Battle Royale II: Endsville
by Jack E. Jones
Summary: A threeway crossover, the town of Endsville has become this year's student program participants. But there's a catch...they aren't fighting to the death anymore, they're going off to war to destroy Eddy McGee and his resistance. If you hadn't read it, read Battle Royale: Peach Creek to get more info.
1. The New Kids

…

_It's been a whole year since the last game, and I couldn't have been any angrier. My name is Mandy McBride. My friend is Billy Davidson, and the Grim Reaper is my mentor. Unfortunately, on my fifteenth birthday, he walked out on us. I was angry with him, as usual but he said he finally got enough of us and left. That was last year. That same year, Billy got surgery on his brain. It's called a Brain Matter Transfer or BMT. They transferred brain matter to his brain, which was the size of a pea, and they finally got it do a decent size. He's not stupid anymore, but he's gotten a new attitude. He's still happy-go-lucky, but he's not in control of his temper anymore. He's also gotten stronger, and he's way more muscular than when we were kids. But, I could care less. The reason being is later that year; a bomb was placed in a tower. It killed most of the parents in our school, including Billy's and mine. I don't know why but there's an instinct going on that's forcing me to go after them. I eventually went online and signed me and Billy up for the program, which I later found out our class, was the one to go. I'm going to kill the terrorists who killed my parents and Billy's…they will pay._

…2:35 p.m.

A bus of forty two kids went down a highway, the kids throwing paper balls everywhere and at the bus driver who was yelling down at them. The class had been going on a study trip to Peach Creek, more specifically the Peach Creek Science Museum. The class was told it would take about three days to get there, so the kids were taking there time, playing cards on the bus or arguing with the others.

Billy Davidson (Male Student No. 21) was sitting near the window, smoking an Oldboat cigarette, a habit he picked up after Grim left. The brain surgery he had left him pretty decent in grades and getting by at school, but it made him lose control of his temper in many situations. He was still old Billy inside, it was just he became quieter and brought on a reputation, violent and unpredictable. But still, he would still smile and was still a bit naïve like his old self. He looked towards Mandy McBride (Female Student No. 21), who was taking a nap in between him and Irwin Jenkins (Male Student No. 19).

"Hey Mandy, wake up." Billy said.

Mandy woke up with a grunt and looked towards Billy, and her face calmed down but it was blank.

"What do you want?" she asked, tiredly.

"You want a hit?"

Mandy looked at the cigarette, which she looked away from, until Irwin slapped the cigarette onto the ground.

"It's bad for her complexion, yo!" Irwin yelled.

Billy's face got hot and he punched Irwin in the face. Irwin was the biggest nerd in school; he was the best on the crochet club. He tried to prove he was tough, but it didn't work out. When Billy was out for surgery, he tried to get with Mandy, but he got rejected. Every girl he tried to hook with would either slap him or walk away, but it diminish his ego, which was non-existent.

"Irwin, you're not getting any tail from her in your life." Billy sneered.

"Yeah, well that's a lot coming from a guy who's too afraid to ask someone out."

Billy got even redder in the face and reached across Mandy and punched Irwin in the face, and he began to slam him repeatedly. Irwin and Billy were once the best of friends, but after Billy's surgery, most of his naïveté diminished, enough to notice Irwin trying to make Billy seem like dirt, which he almost was when he was stupid. He beat up Irwin at Homecoming on the football field, and their friendship died after that.

"Boys, stop fighting and let me sleep." Mandy said.

"Yeah boys, let Medusa sleep so she doesn't turn anyone into stone." A voice said.

It was Mindy Selontro (Female Student No. 19). She was the most popular girl in school, and her ego was like her red hair. She was never a fighter, and she got the school bully Barney 'Sperg' Nicholson (Male Student No. 1) to do whatever she wants, in return for fake sexual favors. Sperg would usually pick on Jimmy 'Pud'n' Molokai (Male Student No. 5), who had recently taken up boxing. It improved his physique ever so slightly, and he became skinny instead of strong. He won half the fights he would participate at the gym, but it didn't improve his reputation or luck with the ladies.

Behind them, Arnold 'Nergal' Jr. (Male Student No. 6) was quietly sitting in the back, reading a book on anatomy. When they were younger, Billy would imagine that he was half monster with tentacles coming out of the back of his body, but his surgery made Billy's mature, and he began to grow disinterested in playing fantasy land. Instead, he wrote them down to remember his childhood. Grim was his and Mandy's legal guardian and he was so skinny he looked like a skeleton. He also wore a black hoodie everyday. The scythe he held wasn't real, but he used one before. When he left, he had too…the reason being was because he had to go back home, and he couldn't come back because of the new dictatorship in America, making immigrants who lived in the U.S for less than ten years to leave. His tenth year was only a month away and they deported him.

The rest of the school kids were minding their own business, while the group of 'friends' stuck together. The bus entered a tunnel, and the darkness engulfed the bus…

Billy's eyes opened, still groggy and heavy. He noticed everyone was asleep, and it was quiet. He forced his eyes to look at the bus driver, who was wearing a gas mask and looking around the bus. He noticed Billy's eyes were open and made one of the substitute teachers on the bus walk towards him. He closed his eyes tight and pretended to be asleep, but it eventually worn up to him. He forced his eyes to open, and he saw two cars come on the sides of the bus, and the bus parked, and soldiers came to the door. Billy's eyes became heavy, and they eventually fluttered shut, with Billy's mind telling him that something was about to go down…and it wouldn't be pretty.


	2. The Arrival

…

"Wake Up, maggots!" someone yelled.

Billy and Mandy wake up with a start, shooting up like a root in the spring. He looks around and then at Mandy, who gives him a confused look. He gets up and stretches his back and turns around, seeing bunk beds all around. He then notices his shirt's gone, revealing nothing but a tank top, and his jeans were replaced with camouflage cargo pants, and his shoes were replaced with boots. He looks around again and notices everyone else was in the same clothes he was wearing. Billy's mind began to pull itself together and he realized he was in a boot camp.

"Hope you bat shit brats had a goodnight sleep." The voice said.

Billy looked around and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from a nightstand adjacent to his bed. He then stepped out and saw a teacher, wearing a white lab coat and brown slacks, with armed guards ten feet away from him, walking down the halls, waking any kids who were asleep. Billy looked towards Mandy, who shook her head in disbelief.

The teacher wrote the letters _**BR 2: Time for War**_ on a chalkboard, and turned around. Billy instantly recognized the face; it was Mr. McIntosh, his 8th grade science teacher.

"Welcome to camp, fellow warriors." Mr. McIntosh said, "I am Mr. McIntosh, some of you might recognize me some of you won't. As you know, I served in the First Gulf War, and I came back with a purple heart."

"Great… not another war story." Billy said to himself.

"Be quiet, Billy! Or you'll answer to one of the guards."

The guards quickly aimed their guns at him, to which Billy looked away from and back at the teacher.

"Now then…if there won't be anymore interruptions, let's begin. I served in Iraq, and I saw the harshness of war. Men killed, bombs exploding, and buildings crashing to the ground. I've been through hell and back to get to where I am today."

He paused as the other kids looked at him, and he looked around the room, a smile growing across his face.

"Men and women just like you have laid down their lives to keep this country alive, whether it is for peace or maybe to prove themselves…men died or came home with severe injuries that they needed special care. Those who came back prove they were strong; proved that they were the ones keeping our kids, you young adults alive, proved to be the ultimate idol to many people."

Billy looked at Mandy again and shrugged, and Mandy returned the shrug, not wanting to give away her position.

"The men here are active duty soldiers in Somalia and China, fighting the terrorists that plague our city."

"It's men like you who plague our city" Sperg interrupts, "Who needs teachers?"

Mr. McIntosh flicks his hand at Sperg, and the guards surround him and open fire, until their clips were empty. Sperg's body laid there, full of holes and part of his chest was opened up, and his eyes rolled back into his head, turning ghostly white. One girl screamed, while Pud'n tried to make his escape, which in turn ended up getting him shot. After a brief silence, two simultaneous beeps began to go off, and they turned around and saw two kids wearing collars on their necks, running around to try to convince someone to help them. It took about thirty seconds before their collars exploded, gushing a red substance from their necks, killing them instantly.

The kids stopped screaming and stood there, too frightened to move a vocal chord. Irwin was trying to embrace Mandy, who in turn punched him in the face. Billy turned around at him and pointed his finger at him, which in turn made him back off.

"Now, class…that little incident there must've given you a vague idea about what's going on today."

The kids looked at him suspiciously, and Mr. McIntosh smirked and said,

"Men and women have laid their lives down to keep you free…now it's time for you to return the favor…."

Silence gripped the room as Mr. McIntosh said,

"Your lesson today…is to become a warrior. You're going into battle."

Billy caught his breath, Mandy narrowed her eyebrows, Irwin checks his pants to see if he didn't defecate in them, and the other kids looked on in shock.

"You were selected because you're all nothing but a bunch of delinquents…which also makes you the perfect soldier. The government realized this after the program last year, where the kids of Peach Creek, as you might've known, fought each other, but five kids survived and went rogue….your job is to search for them. Take a look at the collars on your neck."

The others grasped their collars, wondering if they would be like them. Billy began to pull on them, but Mandy put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head, indicating that they shouldn't. Billy follows her advice and listens in.

"These collars were designed to fit your neck, to keep you in check. Some of you might go rogue on this mission, so if that happens…Boom…it explodes. Also, you'll be paired up in partners. If your collar explodes, his or hers explodes, got that?"

The others nodded, fearing for their own lives.

"Gentlemen, bring in the packs."

The soldiers that shot down Sperg and the boy who tried to escape walked out of the building and immediately came back with a moveable rack. On the rack were bags, with designated numbers on them. Mr. McIntosh removed one of the bags and put it down on the desk at the end of the building, and opened it up, revealing the contents inside.

"When you're names get called up, you will each receive a pack like this. Inside your pack is a jacket, a vest, a helmet and some ammo. You'll put this pack on your back like the ones you carry to school. Or you can get rid of it, I don't care. Once you get suited up, you'll go out these corridors."

Mr. McIntosh pointed behind them, and the kids looked back to see two corridors going down.

"One of them is for the boys; the other is for the girls. Now, once you get to the end of the corridor, you'll get a weapon. This weapon will tell you what your specific job will be."

Mr. McIntosh picks up a shotgun from the side of the table.

"Like this…if you get a carbine rifle or in this case a shotgun, you're going to be the close quarter combat specialist. If you get a rifle, like those two, you're regular infantry. And, if you get a sniper rifle, you'll be from a distance."

Two of the kids looked on enviously, as if they had lost their minds. The others looked on shocked.

"You will also get a pistol. When you run out of ammo, you'll use this. You'll all become real soldiers, just like the ones on TV."

The soldiers at the end of the hall began to form in formation.

"Ten, hut!" one of them yelled.

The two soldiers then marched to the front of the building in front of the desk. Mr. Hardwick stood up, not removing his hands from the desk.

"Now, when you get in line, the girls will get in line from one to two. Check the tags on your clothes to see what position you'll be."

Billy turns his tank top around and looks at the printed tag on the back, and it says the number twenty one. Mandy asks Billy to check her back and it says twenty one as well. Irwin tries to smooth talk his way to getting Mandy to take off his shirt, but instead she backhands him and knocks his glasses off, which he picks off the ground. The rest of the kids get in line, with the numbers 1 and 5 missing. Billy and Mandy get in the back of the line.

"Mandy…" Billy says.

"Yeah?" she responds.

"Do you think we'll make it back home to see the Black Socks win the game?" he asks.

Narrowing her eyebrows in disbelief, not realizing it was a joke but trying to make sure she doesn't lose her friend, she says,

"I don't know, Billy. But it's going to be one hell of a ride."


	3. Mission 1: Drought

…

"Students No.2." Mr. McIntosh called out.

Both students clumsily grabbed their bags and went to their individual bunk. They opened the packs and got dressed and headed through the corridors.

"Students No. 3," he called again.

One pushed the other away, and grabbed his pack. She looked at him in disgust and grabbed her pack. She shook her head while she was getting dressed.

"Students No. 4, 6, 7, 8, 9…."

Billy became sweaty and pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket. One of the soldiers noticed this and tapped him on the soldier. Billy turned around, about to become a nervous wreck when the soldier took a lighter and lit the cigarette. Billy's nerves calmed down and gave him a nod and tipped his red cap. Mandy did something she never did in a while; a small smile went across her face. Billy eventually turned around to face the music.

"Students No. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15…"

This eventually got down to Irwin and his partner, and Irwin turned around and winked at Mandy. She in turn flips him the bird, which makes him smirk while he walks away.

"Students No. 20"

The two students were arguing with each other, on who should go first, like it was a life or death situation until Mr. McIntosh slapped both of them across the cheek. They in turn made faces at each other and went to their beds.

"And Finally, Students No. 21"

Billy and Mandy walked up to the desk and got their packs. Mr. McIntosh smiled a huge smile and wished them good luck with a salute with the index finger. Billy returned it, sarcastically while Mandy just looked at Billy and walked to her bunk.

…

The kids finally got into their uniforms, and they lined up at the adjacent corridors. Some of them wiped the sweat from their brows, others cried hoping that they would someone would rescue them, Irwin began biting his nails through his gloves, while Billy and Mandy looked at each other and nodded. Mandy began to steel her face, while Billy made the most determined look he ever had.

"Ready…set…GO!" a soldier yelled.

The students ran down the respective corridors, with the other soldiers pushing them into straight lines to make sure they don't get confused. Some were thrown sniper rifles, carbines, shotguns, and heavy assault rifles. Billy saw Irwin get a submachine gun, which made Billy laugh to himself. It came down to Billy, who was thrown an assault rifle. As he exited the hall, he noticed Mandy running adjacent to him and they closed in on each other and jumped into truck in front of them.

"Billy, you alright?" Mandy asked.

Billy was surprised, since ever since they became friends, she hasn't shown any signs of respect towards him, such as when he would get a deep scratch from a rock, she would say he'd be fine, but he nodded and said,

"Yeah, I'm okay."

He sat down next to her, and showed her his weapon. It was an M16 assault rifle, currently on burst fire. He loaded a clip into the slot and asked her what her weapon was. She held it out in front of her and it was an FN F2000, something Billy had only seen in video games. Billy nodded his head and looked out the back of the truck, seeing the compound they came out of get smaller and smaller. Out of nowhere, a voice was heard.

"Listen up, everyone," the voice said. "You are heading towards Canada, it's going to be a long drive but we'll make it there in no time. The mission you will be carrying out will take place in abandoned factory town, with a ten thousand yard radius so you'll be able to get some room to fight in. Your first mission is to secure the water tower and cut off their water supply, we'll send you more ammo and some goodies if you do well. Over and out."

…12:00 a.m.

The ride took eight hours, and most of the students turned soldiers were asleep. Billy fell asleep on Mandy's shoulder, which in turn she shoved his head off her which woke him up. The trucks rolled to a stop and then parked outside the town, and the lurching of the truck woke everyone else up. They got out of the truck and quietly entered the town. One of the pulled out a map, and they gathered around and looked. They saw the water tower was about halfway around the town, but there were watchtowers everywhere. The half of the kids were scared for their lives and didn't want to risk it, while some like Mandy were trying to convince them that they should get it over with.

Out of nowhere, a _zip_ was heard and it struck Male Student No. 3 in the head. Female No. 3, getting scared began to scream and yell revealing everyone's position. The boy on her right, Male Student No. 6, feeling no choice, pushed her into the hail of bullets and she was torn apart, and to add into her gory death, her collar exploded. The others looked for as much cover as they can and returned fire. Billy stood close to Mandy, who was firing away with all she had. Billy stuck to cover, while he watched Irwin following in her footsteps, trying to herd her attention, to no avail. Bullets flung towards each other and they came back twice as hard, but they persevered on.

Eventually, they got enough ground so they can move a little bit. Mindy Selontro told everyone to start moving in her cheerleading style and they all began to move. They eventually came across a dirt road with an embankment on the side and they all jumped into it. Irwin and Billy dropped down next to each other and began to fire away, while they told the others to get down. Eventually, one of the enemies threw a grenade and it made its mark on one of the kids, Male Student No. 11. He stalled for at least a second and got up to throw it, but it detonated in his hand and it blew it off completely. Some shrapnel found its way into his neck, and his screaming in pain made it bleed more and he died. Another beeping noise came from behind them, Female Student No. 11, who had been huddled over her gun, and she began to scream. She got up and ran in the opposite direction out of the embankment, and within a few seconds, her collar exploded.

…12:45

Forty-five minutes had passed and hardly any progress was being made to get to the water tower, and it was almost in arms reach. Some kids were beginning to lose hope in the mission, and only a minority was trying to persevere. Billy and Mandy were trying their best to get there, but Irwin was one of the first to drop out.

"We can't do it!" Mindy yelled.

"I know, yo. We're sore losers!" Irwin said.

"We're all going to die!" another kid shouted.

Some of the kids began to cry, others began to contemplate suicide. Irwin was trying to get Mandy to notice him, so he grabbed her vest and began to cry.

"We're not going to make it, my love. Why can't we end it here?" He sobbed, and a fist crashes into his face, and it was Billy again.

"Shut up, Irwin!" Billy yelled, angrily. "You're nothing but a sniveling piece of shit who likes to suck on his thumb. The reason that we're not getting any process is because of you!"

"Me? What did I do?"

"All you do is bitch and moan and never get shit done!" Mandy yells, while Billy gets up to fire again. "You always back out at the last moment because you're nothing but a pussy! Get up and Fire!"

Irwin began to fire, all the while still sobbing and snot coming from his nose. The others began to follow the leader and they all began to pitch in. Eventually they make it to the tower, getting more and more confidant. One by one, four kids, one of them being Billy, climbed up the ladder onto the roof of the tower. Mandy, on the other hand was on the ground giving covering fire.

"Billy, start pulling on that wheel!" Mandy ordered.

"Which way?" Billy yelled back.

"Left, you idiot!"

Billy began following his orders. The enemy was losing ground and troops, and now they were beginning to lose their water supply. Some of the others retreated into some bushes, while the bravest students kept on firing, pushing them back and back again and again. Eventually, the water supply was turned off, and they were victorious.

Billy slid down the roof and climbed down the ladder as fast as he could, and when he touched ground, he jumped and jumped and yelled a battle cry. Mandy shook her head and put her head in her hand, all the while not knowing a small smile was on her face. Irwin began to try and hug and kiss her, but he ended up getting punched again. The kids were victorious. But, it didn't last long…another mission began to be debriefed.

"Listen up everyone, the next mission is going to be tougher than the last. On your map, there is a factory, which they use as a training base. The inside will be heavily guarded because they also have Intel on their next attack. The mission next will be to take that Intel and process it through to us. Since that'll be a tough mission, I recommend you do something on the side while you're at it. Over and out."

Billy and the others crowded around the map. The factory was on the East side of the town, the most heavily populated area on the map. The others devised a plan: Half of the students would go and the other half will stay behind and provide cover. They had only seventy two hours, so they would have to make it quick.

"The girl said that we'd need to make something on the side." One of the students pointed out.

"Yeah, but what do we do?" Billy asks.

Mandy began to devise a plan, but she quickly erased it. Mandy wanted to get this thing over with so she could to Eddy, but they couldn't move anywhere in such a populated place. So Mandy devised another plan: raid the munitions supply.

"Everyone, listen to me." She spoke up.

The others looked up, and looked eagerly.

"I have a plan. They have a munitions supply here, which I assume will be guarded by some militia soldiers. If we plan a raid here, we could get some supplies we need for the next one."

"How do you know that won't work?" One of the students piped out.

"I have my instincts and I know this'll work." She said.

"You haven't done anything to help this group out." Mindy yelled.

"Hey! I busted my ass trying to bring you guys out of that hole we crawled out of. Is that enough proof?"

"No. All you did was sit there and shout orders. We could've been fine!"

Mandy grabs her gun and bashes her in the face, and aims it at her. The boy next to her got up to fight her, but she points his gun at him.

"I want to get out of here, and so do you. We go after McGee and we go home once and for all. My parents died in one of their bombings, so did Billy's. That's why I'm fighting."

Billy got surprised and was about to speak up but Mandy put her hand in front of him, still focusing her attention on Mindy, who's eyes began to shine with tears. She nodded hesitantly and crawled away.

"Now, are we going to get this over with or what?" she asked, and the others nodded. She then began to point out specific areas of the map she wanted out of the question. The others listened in and began to get the idea. Mandy looked at the others and they nodded their heads in agreement. When the planning was over, they armed themselves, ready for battle at any moment.

From the top of a hill at the Mayor's building, someone was watching…


	4. Mission 2: Raid

…1:00 a.m.

The Program had officially begun. It's been four hours since they had left the program building, and already they had begun a raid. Was it out of fear, because most of them didn't fear that they would lose because they wouldn't know that it would come back at them like an atom bomb. Eight kids were dead already, leaving thirty students left in the town.

Billy took four kids and Mandy took the same amount and headed towards the munitions dump. The rest of the kids stayed back for support. They crouched down and walked towards the building, taking note of the guard in front.

"Billy, can you hear me?" Mandy said, talking into her walkie-talkie.

"Yeah, I can hear you." Billy responded.

"Listen, what we're going to do is we're going to wait for this guy to leave his post. The second he walks away, we're going to sprint towards the building. Once we get there, we bust in the door and get the supplies we want."

"Roger that."

Mandy told everyone to get down and she kept her sights on the guard. After about waiting for a good twenty minutes, the guard went around to the other side of the building, presumably to go to the bathroom.

Mandy got up and sprinted towards the building, inciting the others to do so as well. The run in open field left targets open for the slaughter. The run took them five minutes, and when they reached the building, some of them were out of breath. Mandy kicked in the door and noticed the large supply of ammunition, ripe for the taking. Billy popped his head in.

"Paydirt." He said to himself.

He signaled the others to get in the building, with the bravest going in one at a time towards it. It didn't take long to get the others inside. The students went through the ammunitions pile, not caring that there were guards outside. Mandy tried to shut them up, but to no avail.

It didn't take long for someone to take notice. The guard that went around back heard the laughing from inside and opened fire on them. The students began to take cover behind the boxes and piles of bullets inside, not caring that with one bullet or a single explosion could send them all home in body bags.

Billy shoved Mandy down onto the floor and laid on top of her, shielding her from the barrage coming from outside. Mandy pushes him off of her, not realizing how much danger she could've been in. She takes position under a window and opens fire. Billy, on the other hand, stood in the middle, firing in all directions.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Mandy yelled.

"Trying not to get killed, why ask?" Billy responded.

"Get to cover or you _**will **_get killed!"

"If I go over there, I could get shot from over there and vice versa." Billy said, the first time Billy had ever said something people would deem as smart people talk.

Mandy grunted and focused back on the mission at hand. The firefight began to get intense, and bigger bullets were bouncing off the walls. Eventually, one of the students, Female Student No. 7, was shot and killed. Her partner's collar began to go off, and the students looked at him in shock. He began running around one in circles, trying to get someone to help him.

"Let's get out of here!" Irwin yelled.

From the outside, one of the guards began yelling, warning everyone that there was someone with a time bomb inside. The students got up and ran outside, and the boy tried to pull someone in with him. He almost succeeded, but was pushed inside and left to die. The beeping got more intense, until it became a monotonous high pitched sound. He let out one last frightened scream, and it blew up. The explosion left shrapnel from the collar bounce and hit an ammo box and it blew up as well until the whole building blew up, sending a fiery mushroom cloud into the sky. The boom was deafening and it threw the militia off their game, and the students took advantage of the confusion and ran into an abandoned apartment building. They continued to fire at them until the enemy fire died down, and the battle was over.

Mandy called out to everyone to check how much ammo they got. After about a few minutes of checking, they looked at her again and shook their heads. Mandy let out an annoyed grunt and got back to reloading her gun. She noticed Billy pull a cigarette out of his pocket and asked around for a light. One of the kids told him his barrel was hot and he lit the cigarette on the barrel. He pulled out his pack and asked around if anyone wanted one, and three kids took one out. One of the kids coughed, so Billy patted him on the shoulder, chuckling that it was his first time.

Mandy decided to ask about it later. Meanwhile, Irwin went and sat beside her, the smug look on his face becoming brighter.

"So, you must be grateful that I saved everyone, especially you." Irwin said.

"Go suck a dick, Irwin. All you did was say a few simple words."

"Yeah, but it got everyone to leave, didn't it?" Irwin asked.

"What difference does it make?"

Irwin began to put his arm around her, and began to rub her right shoulder.

"You know, we have a few minutes…why don't we go out and have some alone time, if you catch my drift?"

Mandy shoves him away, knocking him over. He got up and walked away, trying to make sure his ass got her attention. It did, but in disgust she looked away. Irwin looked back and winked at her, which made her go red in the face even more. Billy walks up to her and sits down beside her.

"Irwin giving you a hard time?" he asks.

"Yeah…That son of a bitch doesn't know when to get a hint."

Billy chuckles and offers her a drag of his cigarette, but she shakes her head. Billy takes a drag of it and blows out smoke. Mandy waves her hand in front of her face to fan away the smoke, and Billy notices and puts it out on the ground. Mandy looks out the window and notices the stars and the moon, which was full.

"You noticing the stars, or are you just gazing?" Billy asks.

"I'm just looking, no rush." Mandy responds.

Billy smiles a little and nods his head. Mandy turns her head back to the inside of the building and begins to think. This instinct she had was beginning to grow even stronger, which was weird since she hated her parents. Billy's parents were a couple of quacks too, and Billy didn't like them either. His dad was too stupid to care and his mom was overbearing and didn't care what her son did. She did love him; it was just the wrong kind. Not the infatuation kind, oh no, it was just one minute she would love him and get back to her usual stuff and not let him do anything.

Mandy's eyes began to grow heavy and she was about to sleep when all of a sudden, Billy began to speak.

"You know, sometimes I miss them." Billy says.

"What are you talking about?" Mandy asks, sleepily.

"My parents…sure they were nothing but sacks of crap but I miss them once in a blue moon. The brain surgery I had made me realize that they were a bunch of quirks, squares and assholes. But, after Grim left, they were all I had. My aunt's always moping about her stuff not to care, and my step uncle's too insane to even get to me."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I didn't think I'd miss them all today. I thought we wouldn't be doing this stupid program and we could go home. But, them being the only family I had meant that I'd never see them again."

"So you're saying you love them." Mandy answers.

"No, I mean is that I wouldn't realize how empty my parents were. But in a time like this, I wish they were here."

Mandy partially got what he was saying, and her eyes felt groggy and heavy. Billy stood up and put his gun out the window to keep watch, since no one was awake to take that job. Mandy shut her eyes and went to sleep, thinking about Billy's confusing words.

From the other side of the room, Irwin's eyes became slanted and angry, looking towards Billy. He began to wonder if the group ever needed him, and would they need him in times like this. He fell asleep, thinking _**he **_was better than Billy, and thinking that someday Mandy would be his for the taking.


	5. Mission 3: Sabotage

…6:00 a.m.

"Welcome to the first daybreak of the Program!" Mr. McIntosh yelled.

It woke up the others with a start. Billy, who had fallen asleep on the last hour of the shift, woke up and pointed his gun out the window, just in case there were others outside. He relaxed when there was no one outside.

"Now, first there's Students No. 1, Students No. 5, Students No. 3, Students No. 11 and Students No. 7. In all, ten deaths have happened today. As the dawn breaks, we hope you get them good and end this war before we start it. Good luck."

The sun was on the horizon, making the sky turn a dark orange. Billy turned around and saw the others waking from their sleep, which was weird to him since he felt like the voice would've blared their ear drums out. He sat down to look at the time. The watch he was supplied was military time, so Billy got confused. Mandy woke up with a start and rallied others to get up.

They had been asleep for six hours and the enemy could've seen them and reported back to headquarters. Fearing for their lives, the kids began to quiver and one almost screamed, until someone covered her mouth. Mindy almost screamed too, until she was slapped across the face. She looked at who did it and it was Male Student No. 10. She almost slapped him back when Mandy shouted.

"Listen up! We've been asleep for almost six hours, and in those six hours the enemy could've seen us and brought us out. We need to get to that factory."

The others quickly agreed. Billy brought out his map and laid it out on the floor. The others quickly huddled around it. Mandy took out the Battle issued pen and began to circle plans around the map.

"Look, they're going to be guarding the front gate here. If we work our way around here, we could head through the back entrance or through the side windows, we could sneak into the office where they're keeping the Intel and we could make it out in one piece."

"This is insane." One boy spoke up.

"It'll get us out alive."

The boy, whose tag on his bulletproof vest said 'Male Student No. 12,' and just that, was shivering and his face turned white. His glasses were falling off, and he quickly fixed them.

"What's the matter?" Billy said,

"You're all insane, that's the matter. I didn't sign up for this."

"Neither did us. Calm down." Said another kid.

"You're nothing but pigs. I'm getting out of here." He said.

Before he could take two steps, Mandy grabbed her gun and hit him with the butt. She then aimed it at him to keep him from running.

"Mandy! Don-" Billy exclaimed, but she pointed the gun at him, which made him surprised.

"We can worry about getting out of here after we deal with Eddy McGee. That's why we're here, right?"

The others nodded their heads. 12 put his glasses back on and stood up, shakily nodding his head. Mandy put her gun back down and gave Billy his map. She looked at the others, who gave her a look that meant okay. Mandy stood up and opened the door behind her, pointing her gun out to make sure there were no enemies. She looked out and saw the factory about two hundred yards away. She signaled the others to come with her. They began to crouch and quietly walked towards the factory.

Out of nowhere, a voice came through their walkie talkies.

"Wait little soldiers. There has been a change of plans. Instead of going after the Intel, which we will get to eventually, you will all be setting bombs to the tower in front of you. That tower is the radio signal to broadcast resistance messages to different cells, which we have more of you to go and get them. Now, if we get rid of that signal, we can leave them stranded and get them when they're vulnerable. Good luck out there."

The others stopped walking and contemplated what they heard. Some stood there with their mouths agape, others began to whimper. What just happened made them realize that this was way more dangerous than they had thought. They were sending kids, each leaving school at a different time, and sending them to war just like them. Would they be going for seventy two hours just like them they didn't know. What they did know was this…no matter how hard you fight it, sooner or later you and your friends will become soldiers for this program.

Billy quickly pulled himself together and shook the others from their trance. Then they noticed Mandy, who was doing nothing but kneeling there like she heard nothing. Billy began to worry and he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Mandy, are you okay?" Billy asked.

"I'm fine, just trying to figure this out. Give me your map."

Billy gave her his map and she quickly began drawing on it. She then laid it out on the ground again and told them her plan; they were going to go in five man groups and quickly place explosives onto the tower. The question was where were the explosives?

In the distance, they heard helicopters flying overhead. They looked and they saw parachutes coming down from the sky. The helicopters quickly headed off, only to be shot down by rockets. As the explosion went across the still early morning sky, the others quickly turned their attention to the package. They quickly made a run for it, hoping that the militia wouldn't get there first…

After about ten minutes, the students got to the package. Inside were C4, a highly explosive bomb, and blasting caps to boot. The students didn't know how to put it together, so again they were surprised to see Mandy get the C4 together. Mindy began to get suspicious and looked at her with a weird look.

"Mandy, how do you know all this?" She asked.

"Does it matter?"

"You know how to use a gun, how to use tactics, even make C4 active. How do you know?"

"Like I said, does it matter?"

Mindy cocked one eyebrow and got more suspicious.

"You know something we don't. It's time you spit it out."

Mandy began to get angry.

"I told you I don't know anything. Now get off my back."

"No! I won't leave you alone until you-"

Mindy heard the cock of a gun behind her and she turned around and saw Billy, looking at her with a cold face and a pistol to her head.

"She said leave her alone." Billy says.

"What, are you in on this too? What do you got behind your sleeve?"

"I've got a fist ready to slam against your face if you don't shut up. I've never hit a woman and I never will, but this will be an exception."

Mindy shut her mouth and pouted, half heartedly listening to Mandy giving orders.

…7:00 a.m.

After an hour of planning, everything was set in motion. Mandy had rigged the explosives to blow and the others stood guard just to make sure no one was looking. Mandy held the blaster in one hand and started the countdown.

"Okay everyone…10…9…8…"

Billy began to sweat, Irwin fixed his glasses and the others stood ready.

"7…6…5…4…"

Mandy licked her lips in determination and Billy patted her on the back.

"3…2…1…"

Mandy pressed the button on the blaster, and the tower went down in flames and fire, metal crashing to the dirt. The students quickly grabbed their guns and hurried to an abandoned shack, or what looked abandoned. As they jumped through the door, they were too late to notice a small group of militia inside, which they decimated in no time at all. The students moved the bodies out and ducked for cover. As they saw the tower finally go down, they cheered silently and high fived each other.

A call from the headquarters put they're hopes of going home in jeopardy.

"Little soldiers, we have a problem. I hate to tell you this but that tower you destroyed didn't effect the signal. They have ham radios set up digitally, and they have so many we don't know what to do. I'm sorry but this mission is an utter failure…"


	6. Mission 4: Interrogation

The others looked at each other in shock. How could they have been outsmarted? They had the intelligence and get out together, but this failure put them in jeopardy. Billy looked at Mandy, and her eyebrows narrowed to make a cold and angry stare outside. Mindy began to panic, and the eye shadow around her eyes began to run. She almost broke down in tears, until Billy ran to her and put his hand around her mouth. She shoves him away and begins to scream.

"This is all your fault, Billy!" Mindy screams.

"My fault, what did I do?" Billy asks, angrily.

"If it wasn't for you getting that brain surgery, we wouldn't have been selected for this program."

"What does my surgery have to do with anything?"

"Ever since that surgery, you've been protecting that bitch Mandy by getting into fights and ever since that Jamaican bastard you call Grim left the country because of the law, you've been smoking those Oldboats on and off school property."

"So what? I'm troubled."

"Troubled my ass, you're nothing but a wannabe hardass. It's because of kids like you that get us in the program. If anybody deserves to die next, it's you and that bitch Mandy."

Without thinking, Billy's face turned hot red and he got up and slapped Mindy, who fell backwards onto the floor, and Billy picked up his gun and aimed it in her face. Before he could pull the trigger, a boy tackled him to the floor. The boy restrained him and began to talk soothingly to him. Using what he learned from his therapist father, he began to calm him down and pulled out a cigarette from Billy's pocket. He lit it with a match, which he always kept on him if he was ever in a survival situation, a trick he learned from his soldier uncle. Billy took a drag of the cigarette and calmed down, looking surprised when everyone looked at him.

"What…"

Mindy was sobbing in the corner, huddled against Irwin, who gave him a mean stare like Billy had intended to hit her.

"You guys, tell me what happened?"

"You slapped me, you son of a bitch!" Mindy yelled.

Billy's face showed utter shock, not realizing that he had done that. His rage had clouded his vision and he didn't remember what happened.

"It's people like you who deserve to be shot." Irwin says.

"That's enough out of you, Irwin." Nergal says.

The others turned around, surprised that Nergal had actually said something.

His name wasn't really Nergal, it was Arnold. But, it was his first word out of his mouth when he was a baby, so they nicknamed him Nergal. He was always quiet and reserved, and especially cold. On a normal day, if someone saw Nergal and Billy walking down the street together, you would think he'd kill him on the spot. In reality, he was very close to his cousin; he just didn't show it often. This was one of those times.

"It's because of people like you and bratty sluts like Mindy Billy gets mad." He straightens his glasses, which were hanging from his nose. "Billy's surgery left his brain with an uncontrollable rage, caused by the matter at first rejecting the tissue. Over time, it became one with it but it couldn't repair the damage left inside."

"We don't need a lecture on science, Einstein." One of the kids said.

Nergal back fists him and knocks him out cold and continues his story, "Anyway, a trigger like them could send him into a murderous rampage if he wanted to. Combined with his new strength, he could take this whole 'platoon' down in a heartbeat."

They all looked at Billy, who was too busy finishing his cigarette to notice them staring. Getting back to reality, they began to focus on the mission at hand. The only problem being there was no mission.

In an instant, HQ came through the line.

"Alright, little soldiers here is a new mission. We have just gotten word that Eddy McGee has sent ten squads down to the building to investigate the blasting, leaving an open spot for you to go and interrogate a high ranking officer inside an abandoned school turned radio station. Your job is to kidnap him and make him talk. Over and out."

The others looked at each other, and one began to smile a determined smile. It got passed around to one student turned soldier to the other, and then each student had a determined face, determined to go back home and see their families. They brought in their hands and threw them high in the sky, making sure they all came home safely.

Billy stands up and says, "Let's not mess this one up," and leads the kids outside to their next mission.

…7:00 a.m.

The town was quiet, the fire that raged an hour ago had since ceased, being put out by itself twenty minutes ago. The remaining militia at the scene gathered around the pit and swept the coals away.

"Eddy, it's out." One of the gunmen said into his headset.

"Did you find out who did it?" Eddy McGee asked.

"No, but we're working on it. The only thing we know was that it was government sent."

"Isn't that always the case?" Eddy asks.

"Yeah, but they were smaller than the soldiers we previously fought."

"Yeah, they're smaller so what? They could've been a special brigade sent by them."

"Hmm….didn't think that."

"Well, there you go. Anyway, get back here, who knows who could be planning something right now?"

The sound of gunfire fell upon their ears, and the militia looked up and saw the school lighting up with gunfire.

"Well, there's a plan right now, someone's inside the school."

"Go see who that is, someone important besides me is in there."

"Roger that." Said the leader, and he rallied the others to follow them.

Meanwhile, the students began fighting inside the school. Apparently, HQ forgot to tell them that there were more enemies inside than they previously thought. It was crawling with them, and a firefight was imminent. They tried to be as sneaky as possible, but it was in vain. While the fighting was going on, they noticed the target on the other side of the hallway was leaving.

"Guys, he's going!" Billy pointed out.

"We can see that! We have to push these guys out before he gets through."

"Yeah, well what's your plan now?" Mindy asks, sarcastically.

Mandy turns her head and decides to go back the way they came. She knew it was the only way out and it could possibly get them to the target quicker.

"Okay, here's the plan. What we're going to do is fall back and head the other way."

"What? What do you mean, fall back? They're going to come after us." Mindy yells.

"It's a risk we'll have to take! Now move!"

They did as they were told. They ran down the hallway, with the ones at the end of the group shooting back at the enemy, who were closing in on them. They quickly turned the corner and began shooting at them, forming a line down the hall. When they ran out of ammo, they would head down the nearby stairs and wait for them. It came down to the last student, who stayed behind to guard them off. The rest went down the stairs, and they started searching for the target man.

One part of the group went down the hall, while the others checked the courtyard. Mandy's group went through and eventually got back together with Billy's. The boy who guarded them eventually came down, joining the others.

"We've searched the whole downstairs area and we've been fighting upstairs and got nothing." Irwin said, "What do we do now?"

"We have to find him. If we don't our collars will explode." One of the boys said.

"How do you know that?" Billy asks.

"I don't know…just guessing."

The others looked around and tried to catch a glimpse of the target, but to no avail. One boy threw his gun down in frustration and punched the wall behind him. Other kids groaned and complained.

"Let's face it, guys. We're never getting out of here." One boy said.

"Don't say that, kid." Billy responds, "We'll get out of here, you know it."

"How are we going to get out of here without the threat of death on our doorstep?"

"I don't know, but we'll go, you'll see."

As the others tried to find out what to do, out of the corner of his eye, Billy saw ten people running out from the other side of the hall. He turned around and pointed his finger at them, noticing the higher ranking member in the middle of the group.

"There he is! Let's go!" Billy shouted.

The others turned around and didn't hesitate to run. The gunfire began to come from the group, which was going north to the abandoned neighborhood. The students returned fire, the other half firing back at the militia behind them. The students were losing ground with the group in front of them, which were twenty feet away from them.

Nevertheless, they continued to fire at them, still holding on to hope that they would go see their families again. It paid off, and half of the group was decimated, leaving five to go not counting the target man. Eventually, those five were killed too, but the target kept going. Getting down on one knee, Billy shoots the target in the leg, knocking him down and leaving him writhing in pain.

The group gets up and looks down at him. The target puts his hands up in front of his face in defense, pleading for him not to shoot him. The others looked at each other and nodded, bringing Mandy out and knocking him out in one single punch. They drag the unconscious body with them to an abandoned house, where they barricade themselves in for the moment, so they can interrogate him in peace…


	7. Mission 5: Assault

9:00 a.m.

The interrogation lasted only about two hours, since he cracked easily for a high ranking official. Mandy did the talking, and Billy was the enforcer on this one. He cracked in about an hour and spent the next half hour spilling his guts. Eventually, they had to take him out, so they let Nergal do the job. Billy couldn't stand killing someone who was tied up, and Mandy didn't feel like it, so they let him go. After the interrogation, Mandy called headquarters on her walkie-talkie.

"HQ, this is Battle Royale II Endsville High School. So far, he's told us everything about the plans the militia has made, but keep watch because he could've fed us a line of bullshit. Endsville High School out."

She turns off her walkie-talkie and continues walking out the door. Billy walks behind her, trying to get some answers.

"What did they say?" Billy asks.

"Nothing, but I'm sure that they were listening. Now we have to wait."

"How long do you think?"

"Too long, if you ask me. Just get ready for the next mission."

Billy reloads his gun, but feels an odd feeling inside his chest. Billy's brain began to make sense of the feeling, and it tugged on him even more. The feeling was suspicion, it finally got to him. Something wasn't adding up right, Mandy making all of these plans like she knew them like the back of her hand, easily killing anyone in sight, when it took all of his guts to take one person out, and she was sort of distant from everyone. He opened the door and followed her to the side of the house.

"Mandy?" Billy asks.

"I have to go to the bathroom, Billy. Leave me alone." Mandy responds.

"There's something odd about you lately."

"Yeah, there's always been something odd about me, now can you please leave?"

Billy follows her even more, this time to the back of the house. Billy removes his helmet and puts it on his hip, using his arm to keep it in place.

"Billy, get out of here!" Mandy grunts.

"I will, but you have to tell me something."

"Do I have to tell you about that time I left you at the arcade and you got jumped? I told you, I couldn't find you so I assumed you-"

"Mandy, how do you know all this?" Billy asks, straight forward.

"What are you talking about?"

"All this stuff, like these plans you make up and you kill people."

"You've killed people, too." Mandy contradicts.

"It took a lot of guts to pull the trigger and I feel bad about it now. You seem to kill them like you were doing this for a living."

"That's none of your business." Mandy snarls.

"Mandy…why?"

Mandy began to get frustrated, and her face became red.

"Leave me alone, Billy. I have to pee."

"You can pee later. Answer me, please."

"No!"

"Mandy…"

"I said no!" Mandy shouts.

Billy still persisted, this time lowering his voice.

"Mandy…I've known you for a long time. Please tell me."

"Billy, I'm this close to punching you." Mandy says, shaping her pointer finger and thumb to show how close she was to hitting him.

"I can deal with it…please tell me."

Mandy pulled her fist back, and threw it at him. Before she knew it, she had actually stopped right in between his eyes, and Billy's eyes closed and opened again, his stern face not flinching. Mandy realized what she did and pulls her fist back, and for the first time since she was eight, she felt another emotion well up inside her, guilt. The guilt ran to her head and she began to put her arm down and her other hand grasped her forearm, feeling bad for almost punching him.

Out of nowhere, a ping shot from behind him. Mandy, startled by the suddenness of the situation, tackles Billy and shields him from the gunshots, which became more numerous in about ten seconds. Billy puts his helmet back on, going back to the side of the alley and grabbing his gun, which he had left leaning on the wall. He joined Mandy and fired back at the enemy, which were firing from a huge building about five stories high and had many windows. The students inside the house that they fortified themselves in heard the gunshots outside and rushed to join the duo. While the fight began, the people at HQ began feeding them another mission.

"Listen up everyone, you have another mission. The mission is to infiltrate that building you are currently firing at. What you are going to do is head downstairs and attack them from the bottom up. This building housed miners and mine carts are down in the catacombs where you will be entering at. Like it said, this place housed miners, so be creative…Over and out."

Billy and Mandy began to sprint towards the building, which was a good three hundred yards away. Following the leader, the students ran after them, some realizing that they were better off moving together and not leaving each other. Students No. 18 were both gunned down, making the other students sprint faster. Next came Students No. 17, who both got shot in the head by a marksman. Eventually they made it to an elevator shaft, and the ones who made it quickly jammed themselves into the elevator, tightly packing it down. Mandy had to force her hand out from the students to reach the buttons, and she quickly pressed the down button. As they rode down the elevator and into the mines below, HQ came on their walkie-talkies.

"Now, this one is the toughest part of the mission, you guys went down in an elevator, the only problem is that you'll have to find another way back up and into the building. There's mining issued gas masks for any gas leaks that went down in there. Find some and put them on, because you don't know what they could be planning."

They lost contact with HQ as soon as they hit the bottom of the mine. Irwin stepped out front and pointed his sub machine gun out, pointing it in both directions. He ordered the others to follow him out, and they quickly did.

"Here's the plan. My group goes this way, your group goes that way, got it? Let's make sure that our walkie-talkies work, so walk that way until you're shadow figures, and test it out for us, okay?"

"Got it, Irwin. Hope you don't screw us over." Billy says.

"Oh sure, Billy. Mandy, you're with me."

"Uh, no way fag-train. I'm going with Billy." Mandy responds.

"I love a woman who plays hard to get…" Irwin says.

"Go fuck your sister." Mandy says, and she leads the group east.

Irwin leads his group west, and walks fifty meters ahead. He turns back and sees Billy walking slowly behind them. Feeling a jealous envy come up, Irwin points his submachine gun at him, feeling the urge to pull the trigger.

"Irwin, what are you doing?" says Male Student No. 13, who was standing there wide eyed.

"Uh…nothing, just go." Irwin says and he jogs a little to catch up with the group.

Mandy begins talking into her walkie-talkie.

"Can you guys hear me?" Mandy asks.

"Loud and Clear…" Says No. 13.

"Good, now there's a good chance that our signals go down and we'll be in the dark, so keep together and we'll find each other. Keep each other alive, we're in this together."

"Copy that, Mandy. See you on the other side." Says No. 13, and they hurry off into the mine.


	8. The Therapy Session

…10:00 a.m.

A whole hour had passed since they entered the mines below the target building. Forty-five minutes ago, their contact with the other group had been lost, since the level underground got in the way with the signal. So far, the groups considered the fact that they might be ambushed at any minute, and with no contact with each other, they would be forced to fight alone with no help.

Billy and Mandy's group headed down deeper into the mine, guns at the ready. The mine was dark and once in a while, they would pass a light bulb or a sign that pointed them in a specific direction, but other than that, they were completely lost and alone.

"Irwin, can you hear me?" Billy said into his walkie-talkie.

Only static came from the walkie-talkie, indicating that there was still no signal. Billy's resolve didn't waiver, and he tried again.

"Irwin, come in. What's going on over there?" he asked again.

"Billy, it's no use." Mandy said.

Billy considered her answer and finally gave up. He continued on, his gun pointed in front of him.

"Couldn't they have considered giving us two flashlights?" Mandy complained.

"Shouldn't the lights on our helmet help a little?" said Male Student No. 14.

"I know, our helmets don't really help out much." Says his partner.

"Well, it's all we got so stop complaining and let's go." Mandy grunts.

The students grunted and carried on. Out of nowhere, a rock dropped from the roof of the mine. The sound of it hitting the ground startled the group, who froze in their tracks and pointed their guns everywhere. After a minute of paranoia, they assumed their positions and carried on. Their minds were playing tricks on them, and it wasn't funny.

After about twenty more minutes of walking, one of the group (Male Student No. 15, the boy who stopped Billy from killing Mindy.) stopped and sat down on the floor. He removed his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow, and put his shotgun on the wall. He tugs on Billy's pant leg and asks him to give him a cigarette.

"This is no time for taking a rest, kid. We have to get this mission over with." Mandy enforces.

"The mission can wait; I just need a few minutes to get the whole goddamn situation. Billy, can you give me a cigarette, please?" He responded.

"Kid, get up! We have to go!" Mandy shouts, the echoes bouncing off the wall.

"Mandy, please. I'm tired…give us a rest. We've all been through a whole lot today, can't we at least have some quiet time."

"No! Now get up, now!"

The others began to sit down and rest, some sitting on the floor, others had their backs against the wall. Nergal sat next to a rusty pipe and took off his glasses and put them in his pocket and lowered helmet over his eyes. Eventually, Mandy followed everyone else and grudgingly sat down next to Billy.

"We've been through a lot these last two days. I say we get our thoughts out, huh?" says No. 15.

"Well, I definitely need some time to get it out." Says Female Student No. 15.

Being the therapist his father taught him to be, No. 15 sat up straight and leaned in.

"Tell us what you think." He says.

"Well, my parents were killed in a bombing by these terrorist assholes. They bombed the bank my parents worked at, and I was orphaned. My uncle and aunt took me in, but their son began bullying me. Eventually, I fought back. But, what I didn't count on was that they were overprotective of their brat son. They sent me to juvenile hall on false charges, and to this day they think I attacked him for no reason. I'm not mad at them anymore, it's just I can't trust them anymore, or any adult for that matter."

No. 15 nodded his head every once in a while listening to the story, then he looked at Male Student No. 16, and asked him for his story.

"I had an alcoholic father. He used to beat me until I was crying a lake. My mom lived here, and when she noticed a bruise on my eye when I came to her house one summer, I spilled my guts. We went to court, and it got me sent to live with my mom. When I went to one of the elementary schools here, one teacher used to pick on me a lot, not like a funny teacher but he would point me out like he was a racist cop or something. He would send me to the principals' office on lies and I never told my parents, because he threatened to expel me by spreading lies. I haven't seen him since, but he still haunts me."

No. 15 looked at each and every student until they told their stories. One kid was orphaned at age one and one girl was raped by her stepfather. Some kids came from good backgrounds and some didn't, and some kids were just in the game for the fun of it. That scared some of the kids, but not No. 15. It finally came down to Billy and Mandy, who were sitting together, with Mandy on Billy's shoulder. He moved Mandy's head with his arm, indicating that she should tell her story. Mandy became hesitant.

"My parents were assholes, that's it." Mandy said.

"That's not everything. Keep going." Said No. 15.

"That's all I have to say." Mandy responded.

"Mandy, you've seemed really quiet and angry; more so then you were at school, please tell us."

"NO!"

Billy puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Mandy, you seem angrier than before. Please tell us."

"I don't want to. Leave me alone."

She turns her back on the group, who were looking at her with confused faces. No. 15 finally speaks up.

"If she won't go now, maybe Billy would like to speak."

Billy sighed and took off his helmet, revealing his bright orange hair. He wiped his skin with his sleeve, which was tan for an odd reason. Billy took a deep breath and told his story.

"Well, I was born with an IQ of -5. The teachers didn't believe in me, and I would have all of these awesome adventures inside my own mind. My mentor would always look like the Grim Reaper, so I called him that. We would have these imaginary adventures like we went to the North Pole, or the town was invaded by monsters. Anyway, when I was fifteen, I had a surgery in my brain, and it brought matter from dead people and grafted it onto me. I began to get smarter, but I didn't feel different. That same year, because of the law, Grim got deported back to Jamaica. I tried to have him stay, but he couldn't. I began smoking a month after he left. Then, the month after that, my parents died in a tower collapse that killed Mandy's parents, too. I hate the government for taking Grim away and I hate these terrorists. My parents were too stupid to care for me, hell they neglected me, but after seeing some of our friends die, it was the last straw…"

Billy took a drag of a cigarette to signal that he was done. Some of the kids were astonished about his life story, and No. 15 was astonished too. But, he quickly got back into his therapist mindset, and he quickly got to it.

"Billy, do you think Mandy would like to share with us now?"

Billy nodded his head and looked at Mandy, who was scrunched over. He leaned in closer and noticed her eyes were brimming with tears. Billy shook Mandy, and she quickly wiped her eyes and got back to reality.

"You okay, Mandy?" Billy asks.

Choked up, Mandy began to speak,

"I think I'd like to share now." She said, clearing her throat.

Billy leaned in and so did the others, and Mandy cleared her throat. She took a deep breath like Billy and finally told her story.

"My parents were assholes. Hell, I didn't like them. They treated me like a bastard child, even though I was legitimate. A few years ago, we got a mentor. We called him the Grim Reaper because he kind of looked like he could be. We went everywhere together, I was still pretty angry at my parents, though. One day, my parents and Billy's died in a bombing, and the month before Grim was deported back to Jamaica, even though he had legal documents. This damn government took him away from us, but the terrorists took my parents away. I didn't care for them, but there was a tug on my shoulder that told me to one day avenge them."

They looked at her in astonishment. Billy was astonished, too, since they didn't like their parents either. She turned around and looked away.

"That's all I have to say. End of story." She says.

No. 15 crawls over and puts a hand on her shoulder, which Mandy shrugs off. He still felt something wasn't adding up. He whispered into Billy's ear, telling him to ask her if she had anything else on her mind. Billy nodded and asked her if she had anything else.

"I told you, end of story. I'm done, okay?"

"Mandy please…there's something you're not telling us."

"What is there to tell you? I told you everything."

"But, something seems off. Why would you want to avenge your parents if you hated them?"

"I told you, something tugged at me. Something led me to do it."

"But, it's weird. How do you know all this stuff?"

Mandy was about to lose it, but she finally came clean. She turned around and spoke her mind, ready to face the music.

"I trained…I signed up for this program…"

_**Author's note:** For those who are actually reading this, when missions are in the chapter, it will be titled Mission: etc. If it isn't, it'll be titled regularly._


	9. The Mission Continues

…10:00

The therapy session on the west side of the mine was still underway while on the other side of the mine, the group on that side began to experience problems. The first problem was that they felt lost. The other problem being was Irwin. The others began to suspect that he didn't know what he was doing. He would stop them in their tracks for menial things, like a rat going by or drops of water from the surface dripping down onto the floor. All but one of the group members, Mindy, were convinced that his mind was playing tricks on him, and he was as lost as they were.

Forty-five minutes went on and they felt like they had no progress. The others then stopped walking, while Irwin and Mindy still walked on.

"Irwin, stop." Says Student No. 10.

"No, not yet. We're not out yet." Irwin responds.

Student No. 10 walks up to Irwin and spins him around. Clearly confused, Irwin straightens his glasses and straightens his gun onto his shoulder.

"What do you want?" he asks.

"Do you know where you going?" says Female No. 10.

"Yeah, I do…I-I…we're almost there."

Male No. 10 raised an eyebrow and walked closer to Irwin, until his face was kissing distance with his. He narrowed his eyebrows until his face was in a glare. Irwin steeled his face and got ready.

"Do you…know…where we are?" Male No. 10 asks, slowly.

"Yeah, I do…we're close to the surface."

"On what lead do you know this?"

Irwin begins to sweat, before he stutters, Mindy pushes No. 10 away.

"Get away from him, you freak. It looked like you were about to kiss him!"

"Oh, you're on his side now? The biggest nerd in school and you're on his jock? That's low!"

"Kid, you don't know who you're messing with." Mindy says, and she puts her hand on gun, which was a sniper rifle.

"You're one to talk." No. 10 says, and he puts his hand on his weapon, which was a SCAR-L.

"Guys, guys! Stop this shit!" says Female No. 10.

"No, I won't stop! This asshole got us lost and now we'll never get home." Male No. 10 responds.

"Well, well, well, looks like your whore is with you again!" Mindy exclaims.

"What did you say?" No. 10 responds.

"You heard me…loud…and…clear!"

Male No. 10 raises his gun at her, who in turn points her gun at him. It led into a Mexican Standoff, with the students trying to stop them both from killing each other.

"No one talks about my sister that way!" Male No. 10 yells.

"Jake, we don't have to do this! Please put the gun down!" Female No. 10 pleads.

"Not now, Maddie. Stay out of this!"

"That's her name, Maddie. What a more whore-ish name is Maddie." Mindy says.

Jake began to pull the trigger, but Maddie slaps the gun from his hands and hugs him. Jake becomes surprised but in turn returns the hug to his sister. He picks up his gun, and puts his arm around her. As soon as he does it, Irwin points his gun at him. Mindy and Irwin point their guns in his face, prodding him with them.

"I'm in charge, now. And you're going to what I say." Irwin says, coldly.

"On whose authority?" Jake asks.

"On my authority, kid. Now, will I have to put you down, or will you be a good boy?"

Jake pushes both guns away from his face. His glare didn't flinch as he got in Irwin's face again.

"I'm no kid, kid. And if you get us lost again or put those guns in my face, I won't hesitate to end you."

"I can deal with that. Now, get moving." Irwin commands.

Jake pushes him with his shoulder and walks forward, with Maddie following. Irwin begins to walk with an undeserved sense of pride, and he slaps Mindy on the butt and doesn't take his hand off it. The others become disgusted with the gesture and grudgingly follow behind.

…11:25

An hour and twenty five minutes had passed since they had gone down into the mine. That time in the mine proved to release some very personal demons in one group. The other group began to distrust each other, since the 'leader' of the group was nothing but a 'scared pussy', as they would put it. There was no contact with each other ever since they split up, so some of them believed that they were either dead or lost and would never come back. Mandy's group was still coming to grips with what she had said. She had been training for the Program, and she knew they would be the next class for it.

An hour ago, Mandy's group had spilled their guts on their past. Each story had revealed some reason why they had acted how they do, either acting like criminals or on the girls' part, acting like sluts. Some of the stories revealed some disturbing stuff, especially on Mandy's part. Some were still struggling with the fact she 'volunteered' for this program. Nobody had wanted to be in this game, but for a kid to voluntarily join was scary.

To break the silence, Male Student No. 16 grabbed his walkie-talkie and talked into it.

"Irwin, Jake…can you hear me?"

First static, but No. 16 didn't stop.

"Jake, Maddie, can you hear me?"

Still more static, but No. 16 decided to try two more times.

"Irwin, answer me, damn it!"

Nothing…No. 16 began to lose his hope, but he tried one more time.

"Irwin, if you can hear me, please answer…"

At first, there was static and 16 began to lose hope. He walked in between Female No. 16 and Male No. 15, who tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a small reassuring nod. All hope seemed lost; it seemed they would never get out.

Out of nowhere, in the static, Irwin's voice came through.

"Mandy…can…hear…me?" Irwin says through the static.

"Irwin, where are you?" Mandy asks, in startled-ness.

"At…ends…hall…down…take…left…get…here…"

Mandy turned off her walkie-talkie and she whipped her head to each side. She nodded to Billy, and it got his attention.

"Listen up, everyone!" Mandy orders.

Some of them turned around, while the others who didn't trust her after her story, stuck their heads around in their own spaces, either keeping their heads down or talking to the others.

"We have contact with the others!" she exclaims.

Some of the others whooped, some hugged each other and some nodded their heads in agreement. All of a sudden, bombs shook the ceiling and dirt came down on them. Some held onto their helmets, some of them gripped their guns in fear, and some didn't mind it at all.

"This is nuts!" One girl yelled.

"Well, those nuts will be gone in a minute!" Mandy yells. "We're getting out of here!"

"Well, show us, O Great leader!" One boy yelled.

"You keep shouting like that and I'll end you! Now let's go!"

The group began to run down the mine hall, some rocks falling from the ceiling. The group felt like the ceiling was going to cave in, which made them run even faster. They eventually made it down to an intersection, and following Irwin's orders, went left. Eventually, they found a small light, and they interpreted it as a beacon of hope. On the other side, they notice a group of kids on the other side, who were running just as fast as him. The two groups clashed, finally noticing that they were both on the same side. Billy pushed his way through the group of kids, and pushed the up button on the call.

The wait for the elevator felt like hours, because it took the elevator so long to get there. As soon as the elevator came down, the students crammed themselves in like they did on the surface. Billy pushes the call button to go up, and the doors closed and they went up. As they went up to the surface and into the building, they loaded their guns and readied themselves.

What they saw made the student's jaws drop.

"Oh…my…god…" Mandy says.

"This isn't going to be pretty." Billy says.


	10. Close Encounter

They were everywhere. Walking past each other, climbing down the stairs, some were outside guarding the building. The whole resistance was holed up inside this building, as if they turned this place into a barracks. The students were both outmanned and outgunned, it was a miracle they didn't notice them when they did. They were either not looking or doing something no one could think of, or they were taking shifts guarding the place.

Without thinking, Billy got down on one knee and quietly snuck away from the group. Following in his footsteps, the other students did the same. He waved his hand in front of his face, indicating to make them move quicker.

"We'd never last in a fight like this." Billy said, quietly.

The others nodded and scouted the area. Going straight led to a corridor leading to god knows where, one direction sent them up a flight of stairs to what we perceive as a balcony. The other direction went backwards into an office, where some of the students thought would house some information on regards of Eddy's whereabouts.

Billy looked to Mandy, who in the first time since the whole program began, didn't know what to do. She looked around to the others, guns cocked and ready to fight, but she saw the faces they were making and shook her head. Just like Billy said, they would never survive a firefight here.

Thinking on her feet, she motioned Billy to quickly come to her side. Billy did as he was told, quietly but speedily moving towards her. He came down on one knee and she leaned in to whisper into his ear.

"Billy, we can't take them all at once." Mandy points out, again.

"I know, what are we supposed to do?" Billy asks.

Mandy looked around again, and her working mind threw a plan together.

"We're going to go in four man teams. You take one pair, I'll take the other, and somebody'll take the others."

Billy got a little confused that Mandy could throw a plan out of nothing in that short of time, but he instead decided take her plan and nodded his head. He basically crawled onto the floor and picked out a random three kids. Mandy did the same, and she brought Male No. 15, Female No. 17 and Nergal. Irwin silently begged Mandy to let him come with, but instead got him a threat to punch him. Irwin grunted in frustration and followed Billy and Mandy and grabbed three kids. Eventually, they found five groups of four. They huddled in and told each other where they were going to go.

"Okay, here's the plan. My team will take the upstairs, Billy's team will go down that aisle, you guys head into that office building, and you guys will stay here and keep quiet, okay?"

Some nodded like they were going to a movie, while the others nodded with hesitance in their movements, especially the group who was in charge of staying behind. Billy quickly went through the corridor and opened the door, Irwin went and into the office area and Mandy snuck up the stairs, each group following after their leader.

…

Billy opened the door and told the others to move, using hand gestures to coerce them. He shuts the door behind him and takes charge once again. He felt the courage to stand up straight, and when he does, his view of the room they went into became wider.

The room was big, big enough to house a few yachts. It was filled with rotting corpses, of militia men who died in action; flies were everywhere, and the stench was worse than a compost heap. Billy held his nose and ordered the others to do the same, but for Female No. 15, she got too much of the smell and she vomited all over the floor. Male Student No. 18 groaned in disgust of what she did and backed away from her, while Female Student No. 18 went and comforted her.

"Mandy, can you hear me?" Billy asked into his walkie-talkie.

"Loud and clear… I never thought I'd ever say that." Mandy responds.

"The room you told us to go to was weirder than expected…" Billy said, putting much emphasis on the word _**expected**_.

"What are you talking about?" Mandy says.

"Well…we…ugh…"

"Spit it out." Mandy ordered.

"We walked…into a morgue." Billy explains. "The place is full of bodies, and I think a fly went into my mouth."

"Gross…well, get out of there as fast as you can, if you find anybody that isn't us, hope for the best or take them out."

"Got it, Mandy… signing off." Billy says, and he turns off his walkie-talkie.

He tells the others to follow him, which they do so. They walked around for a few minutes, until Billy saw a stairway, leading to an observation room. Inside the room were two militiamen dressed in biohazard suits, putting on rubber gloves and straightening their masks. Billy gets down behind a table and hurriedly gets to the stairs. Billy gives the ok sign before he busts in the door.

…

Meanwhile, as Billy's group went through the morgue section of the building, Mandy's group headed up the stairs and onto a balcony outside. The heat from the still rising sun was horrifying, but the group still pressed on. Mandy held her gun out in front of her, still being wary of enemies even though they weren't there. To calm her down, Nergal puts his hand on her shoulder and squeezes it to catch her attention. She twirls and looks at Nergal, who gives her a reassuring nod of the head to tell her that no one was there to kill them.

Mandy finally releases her tension and hoists her gun strap over her shoulder. She leans in on the rail of the balcony, taking off her helmet, revealing long blonde hair fashioned into a bun. Nergal joins her on the balcony, and offers her a cigarette he gotten from Billy from when they were in the cavern. She rejects his offer and he puts it back, he didn't have a lighter anyway.

"So, is it all true?" Nergal asks, in a cold but questioning tone.

"Yes, it is. Are you happy?" Mandy asks, a hint of regret in her voice.

Nergal doesn't respond to it, only saying,

"I guess I should've known."

"What are you saying?"

Nergal straightens his glasses, and looks out onto the horizon, the glare from the sun reflecting off them.

"You always had a weird sense around you. You seemed driven to do something. Not like all the bastards at school who are driven to perform their best and what not. It was like you were training to do something like this. I always assumed it was ROTC."

Mandy shrugs it off, like it was just a typical answer. Nergal smiles the smallest smile in the world, but he continues his lecture.

"You always had something against your parents, but it seemed so weird that you actually are going out to avenge them. You never liked them in the first place."

Mandy looks at him, only moving her head ever so slightly, and raises one eyebrow to get a better look at him. Nergal turns his head, and the look on his face asked her to go on.

"I don't know, Nergal. When they died, I didn't give a damn. But, something tugged at me from inside of me, like I needed to get my revenge."

"I never thought you would go after them, not like this anyway."

"Well, have you ever had that urge to do something you would never do in your life? This is what's happening."

Mandy looks at the ground from the balcony, and a bead of sweat drops from her forehead. Nergal straightens his glasses once again.

"I don't think that was a tug you were feeling." Nergal speaks up.

"What?"

"Nobody does that just because they felt a tug at their shoulder. They were your parents, so anyone would want to seek revenge."

"I told you before, I didn't like them." Mandy said.

No. 15, who became the therapist of the group, moved in next to her.

"Well, something must've liked them. Your parents are your lifeline until you grow older. For most of us, that's three or four more years."

Mandy began to get claustrophobic.

"Mandy, I think deep down you love your parents a lot. You just don't want to show it."

Mandy pushes Nergal away, and she pushes No.15 away too. She puts her helmet back on and moves on, the others shrugging and going after her.

…

Down at the office section of the building, things weren't going as planned. A firefight broke out inside and the group was pinned down. Jake, Maddie, Irwin and Mindy were pinned down, with no support from the others.

Irwin saw a chance to fire and stood up and blew his clip away. When it got down to reloading, he got behind a cubicle wall and ducked for cover. Jake and Maddie got up and began to fire, whereas Mindy sat there and pouted.

"These guys are losers." Mindy complains.

"Just like you, bitch. Help us out!" Jake yells.

"No! I'm staying here where it's safe." Mindy yells.

"Please Mindy, help us!" Maddie pleaded.

Mindy stuck her tongue out and shook her head. Irwin fired with them and two of the militiamen went down. Just as quickly as they went down, two more came in their place. Irwin, trying to be the sharpest tool in the shed, got down and thought of the plan. The files that held Eddy's whereabouts were being guarded by the militiamen. If they could somehow push them back they could get to those papers. Irwin rushes towards Mindy and stops and pulls Jake and Maddie down to the floor.

"Listen up, everyone! We're going to flank them!" Irwin yells.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mindy asks.

"It means we're going around them, don't you know anything?" Jake shouts.

"Unlike you guys, I'm not an army _brat_, thank you."

Getting fed up, Irwin screams at the top of his lungs,

"Shut up! I'm sick of you guys fighting and it's driving me nuts. Jake, you guard us while we get around."

Jake grunts and does what he was told to do, and he begins to shoot at the enemy. Maddie stays behind to help him, and Irwin and Mindy go around. One of the militiamen catches onto this and goes to ambush them. As Mindy and Irwin turn the corner, the man tackles Irwin and the two fight. Punch after punch is thrown against each other, Irwin is kicked in the stomach, he backhands the gunman, but he proves to be too strong. He jumps onto Irwin, and begins to strangle him. Just as he blacks out, Mindy grabs Irwin's gun and shoots him in the head, immediately killing him.

Shocked at what she just did, she throws Irwin's gun at him, and the two continue on. They shoot down one more gunman, but before he can get to the file, Maddie begins to scream. Irwin looks up and sees Jake flailing his arms around, his head filled with bullets destroying his brain. Maddie's collar begins to beep, and she panics. She grabs his gun and slaughters two of them, eventually running out of ammo. She is quickly decimated, not before letting Irwin and Mindy escape.

…

The sudden gunfire got the others by surprise. Billy's group was holding two scientist as hostages before rushing to the sound of gunfire. Mandy heard it through the thin glass and broken down windows, and the groups eventually meet.

"What happened?" Mandy yells.

"I don't know, ask Irwin." Billy says.

Mandy looks at Irwin and Mindy who were panting and out of breath. Mandy shakes Irwin and forces him to look at her.

"What happened? What did you do?" Mandy demands.

"Gunshots…got…files…Eddy's…hideout…two dead."

"Who?"

Still out of breath, Mindy finishes what Irwin started.

"No. 19…both."

The others looked at each other in astonishment. The brother and sister team were actually dead. The biggest sports fanatics and jocks were gone. Billy shook his head to clear his mind, and he shook Mandy too.

Mandy came out of her trance too, just to notice a band of militia coming after them. After getting the others out of their post-traumatic state, she immediately starts heading up the stairs.

"Where're you going?" Billy yells.

"Come on, let's go. We're getting out through the roof!" Mandy responds.

Without hesitating, Billy commands the others to do the same, every one of them narrowly missing bullets.

_**Author's**_** note:** _Don't forget to leave a comment or a full-fledged review._


	11. The Sacrifice II

Billy runs after Mandy, which in turn makes the others follow after him. The militia is hot on their trail, the students narrowly missing the bullets thrown at them. Some of the students fired back, some just tried to run away. Billy and Mandy were one of the few firing back as they ran up the stairs.

The third flight of stairs, one boy began to run out of breath. Male Student No. 12 eventually stopped to catch his breath, his asthma finally getting to him. He frantically searched around for his inhaler, finally finding it inside his coat pocket, being hidden by his bulletproof vest. He pressed on it, but to no avail. He had forgotten to change the cartridge before he went to school. Eventually, he began to wheeze and cough, and he stopped to catch his breath. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as the militia caught up to him and riddled his body with bullets. He was dead before he hit the ground.

As soon as his body hit the floor, his partner's collar began to beep. Eventually, she began to panic as the beeping became a line sound, and she tried to get help from the nearest person she could find. In her blind fear, she stumbled over the railing and fell, her collar exploding before she hit the ground.

The others panicked. They began to slow down, the fear of the program finally setting in. Eventually, they formed a barricade on the stairs and began shooting for their lives. The ones who ran out of ammo the quickest quickly retreated up the stairs to get away. It was down to Billy, Mandy and Nergal and his partner. They held up the defense while the rest ran.

Billy eventually ran out, and so did Mandy and Nergal. His partner had run up the stairs a few minutes ago, and she was just above them.

"There's too many of them!" Billy said.

"Well, thanks for pointing that out, captain obvious!" Mandy shouted back.

"Get back, get back!" Nergal yelled, and he retreated with them.

As they got up the tenth flight of stairs, Billy suddenly heard a thump and a cry of pain. He turned around and saw his cousin writhing in pain; a bullet went through his thigh. Billy hesitated, but went back and carried him up the stairs.

"What happened?" Mandy asks.

"Nergal got shot! He's hurt bad!" Billy answered back.

"Can he still shoot?"

Nergal nodded his head, his teeth biting down on his upper lip.

"Get the pistol from his side holster and give it to him."

Billy did as he was told. He gave Nergal his program issued pistol, which was in the model of a Beretta, and he fired at them, hitting one gunman in the shoulder, knocking him down the stairs.

The next flight of stairs was significantly harder, as Nergal had become heavier and heavier and was losing blood. Billy sets him down to check his wound. The bullet pierced his thigh, just above an artery, but from Billy's blood-stained vest, he had lost a lot of blood. Billy rips off a piece of Nergal's jacket, and he wraps it around his wound, not knowing what to do. Nergal cries in pain, but there was nothing he could do to keep him from screaming. Billy puts his arm over his shoulder and carries him up the stairs. Nergal, in turn shoots back at the gunmen.

On the top of the next flight of stairs, Mandy looks at how Billy was slowly climbing up the stairs, becoming exhausted from carrying his cousin.

"What are we just standing here, doing? Let's go!" Mandy yells.

"Are you crazy, there are too many people down there!" one kid yells.

"Yeah, well there are too many people up here! Quick, start shooting!"

Mandy quickly began pulling the trigger, while some of them hesitated. Mandy looked back and got angrier, her face turned red.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? SHOOT!" Mandy demanded.

Out of fear, they began shooting, and Billy, seeing the group shooting down to defend him, felt a twinge of hope and began to go faster and faster. Nergal began to smile a little, feeling that same twinge of hope his cousin felt.

But, just as he felt it, the feeling was gone. As the group continued shooting, a stray bullet ricocheted and bounced off a wall. It hit his partner in the head, instantly killing her. Billy felt a smile go away, and Nergal began to hear his collar beep.

"No…no…no! This isn't happening!" Nergal screamed.

"Shut up, Nergal. I'll get us out of here!" Billy said, and he scrambled up the stairs, the exit being two more floors ahead.

Nergal's collar began to beep faster, and his hope began to fade. It didn't fade his anger though, as he turned around and shot at the enemy once again.

"You killed my partner! You killed me! Now I'm going to kill you!"

Nergal's face flushed with rage, and he pulled the trigger faster and harder, the gunshots from both side deafening the beeping so the enemy couldn't here.

On the final floor, it took both of Billy and Mandy's strength to open the door. Using both Nergal and himself, he became a battering ram and knocked the door open, not so much to knock it off his hinges. The students were finally on top of the building they fought so hard through. Although, they didn't feel triumphant. Nergal's collar beeped faster, so much that the individual beeping noises were coming together.

"Oh, no. There's no way off the building!" One student exclaims.

"Let's face it; we're all going to die!" One girl screams.

The students began to panic again; some of them began to cry. Mandy couldn't come to grips with telling them to shut up, but she quickly began walking around in circles. Billy got down on one knee and placed Nergal down, his breath becoming labored and hard. His face turned pale, so much he looked like a ghost.

"Nergal, hold on. Please…" Billy pleaded.

Nergal fluttered his eyes open. He was seeing grey…everything was grey. He straightened his face and wiped blood that hadn't dried against his skin away. He looked at the sky, and he saw birds. The birds circled around the sun and quickly dove away. He then looked to his side, and saw his favorite cousin crying. Nergal steels his face, but his determined face forms a smile, a big one, one Billy or the others had never seen. In a brotherly way, he wipes Billy's tears away and he begins to move towards the exit.

"Nergal, where're you going?" Billy asks through tears.

Nergal looked back at him and then at Mandy.

"Mandy…l-look over there…th-there's a board t-that you can use to g-get across t-to the other building."

Mandy looks over and sees the remnants of a makeshift passageway. She quickly gets working on the bridge, placing a broken piece of wood onto the bridge. Mandy tells the others to follow her, and she quickly moves across, but takes a double take and notices Billy still on the roof with Nergal.

"Billy, come on. Let's go!"

"No! I'm staying here!" Billy responds.

"Billy, come on!"

Nergal puts his hand on his shoulder.

"Billy…go…" he says, whispering.

Before Billy could object, Nergal pulls a cigarette out of Billy's pocket and takes his glasses off. He takes the right angle and light it. The sound of the beeping became a line. It eventually felt deafening. Nergal crawls to the entrance.

"Billy…I've always watched over you…to k-keep you safe…I-I can't do that anymore…"

"No, Nergal! Don't do it!"

"We-we've been the best of friends…no…we-we've been the best of family…go now…"

Billy's tears flooded out from his eyes. He gets up and begins to walk away. Before he gets onto the bridge, he looks back at Nergal, who was closing the door behind him.

"I…I love you…cousin." Nergal says, and he shuts the door.

As the enemy gets closer in on Nergal, they point their guns at him. Nergal instead pulls out a grenade he salvaged from the raid the night before and pulls the pin. Before he lets go, he pulls the collar from his jacket and reveals the collar, which was beeping uncontrollably.

"A necklace…Eddy, we've got a neck-" one of the gunman says, but before he could finish his sentence, the grenade explodes. Nergal only has the time to smile before he gets blown to pieces.

When they hit the roof of what seemed to be a bank, the blast shook the students. Billy, curious to the sound, turns around and sees the entrance in smoke. Eddy's face turns beet red, his nostrils flared and his muscles tightened.

"I'll kill them…" Eddy says. "I'll kill THEM!"

Eddy then pulls out his pistol and shoots it in the air.

"You hear that, Eddy McGee? I'm going to get you! I know you hear me."

Before the students could react, they hear a voice.

"I can hear you loud and clear…" the voice says.

The students turn around and notice Eddy McGee, the infamous terrorist, standing out in the open. Billy points his pistol at him, when all of a sudden; more gunmen come from behind him. In all, there were sixteen gunmen.

"Bind their hands and take them with us." Eddy orders.

The students are marched off to Eddy's lair, uncertain of what was going to happen.

_**Author's Note & Comment: **What do you think will happen next? Leave a comment or a review and you'll find out what will happen._


	12. The Encounter

The students' march seemed to last forever. Billy's rage was still kindling, but for a little bit it subsided. Mandy walked alongside Billy, not trusting anyone else but him. Irwin looked on in envy; a jealous anger began to well up inside him. Mindy walked beside him, hoping her knight in shining armor would do something. The other surviving students were walking behind them, heads down in both shame and anger.

Billy looked up and took a good look at Eddy. He was of medium height, about 5'10" or 5'11", his long brown hair, which went a little past his shoulders, was held back with a bandana. He was wearing a white long sleeve shirt, ripped apart all over and dirty. His pants were black, and they were baggy and they sagged. When Eddy turned around to look at the students, he noticed a small scowl of battle was across his face, and his brown eyes flickered.

Ten minutes later, they marched into the base, and the students were forced to remove their guns. They threw them in a pile onto the floor, being careful not to break them or make them go off. They then removed their helmets and gloves, throwing their helmets into one pile and stuffing their gloves and their pockets.

"Well, here we are. Welcome to Casa de Eddy. Or what you jarheads would call it, the target house." Eddy said.

"If you didn't know by know we're not jarheads." Mandy said, pointing to the stitching on her bulletproof vest. The stitching said Battle Royale II Battle-issued vest.

"Whatever, Blondie." Eddy remarked. "You're still the same as them."

"Hey! Don't call her that!" Billy shouted. "And what do you mean _the same as them_!"

Eddy takes a cigarette from his pocket and lights it with a match. The red cherry that filled the room with a little light reminded Billy of the cigarette pack in his pocket. He tries to push his hand through but because of his predicament, he was unsuccessful.

"You're the same as the soldiers back home." Eddy begins to explain. "You come into our territory, guns blazing and you head home alive or dead. You seem to know what you're doing, and you guys are also pretty organized. That's the reason why I say you're the same."

Eddy looks at them, scanning them all. He notices Billy struggling to get his cigarette pack from his pocket. He begins to walk towards him, the militia and students eyeing him.

Mandy steps in front of Billy, acting like a defensive shield.

"What are you doing? What're you going to do to him?" Mandy demands.

Eddy gives a look telling her to relax and she pushes her out of the way. He stands in front of Billy, who looks up to see him staring down at him.

"You got a cigarette down there?"

Billy at first says nothing, but slowly and hesitantly begins to nod. Billy begins to prepare for the worst, shutting his eyes and waiting for a bullet to go through his head….

Instead of the sound of a gunshot, he notices the sound of rustling. He looks down and notices Eddy digging around his left pocket. He pulls out the Oldboat pack.

"Hmm…Oldboats…haven't seen one of these since February."

Eddy looks at Billy, who gives him a confused look. Seeing that he wants a cigarette, Eddy pulls one out and presses his cigarette against his, lighting it. He places it between Billy's thumb and pointer finger, and he takes a drag.

"Keep those safe. You might need one." Eddy says, and he shifts his head to Mandy and winks at him.

Billy became disgusted. Mandy was Billy's best friend, why would he do that? Sure, she was looked hot but they were friends since they were babies. Billy scrunches his face, showing his disgust. Eddy does nothing but laugh it off, chuckling at his own joke.

"I noticed you guys aren't what the others thought you were." Eddy exclaims.

"What are you talking about?" Billy asks.

Eddy looks at the students again.

"I see you could be about my age…maybe even younger. I also noticed the stitching on your vests from earlier."

The students looked at each other, confused at the remark.

"Out there on the battlefield, you guys didn't act like adults. The plans you made, you made them in a hurry, and they weren't well planned like the adults."

Mandy narrows her eyebrows in offense.

"And I also noticed you guys were behaving weird. When one of you would die, most of you cowered away or cried, not like the professionals who didn't give two shits. Then, the collars on your neck…"

The other remark made the others notice they still had collars around their necks. Most of them forgot about them, or were too numb from the battles they fought to notice anymore.

"At first, I thought those collars were ditch efforts to take out one of us."

"W-what gave you that idea?" Irwin stammered.

"Hey, the government's fucked up, you know. I thought you guys were real soldiers, remember? Then, when that kid died, I got a notice that they were actually collars that we recognized."

"We were all in some sort of game or other." Another voice said.

The students looked up and noticed another boy in the corner. He walked out of the darkness to reveal himself. He had long black hair that almost reached his hips, pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a black beanie, and his shirt was something a professor would wear. He was wearing something a teacher would wear, even his shoes were polished. He stuck out for a resistance member.

"My name is Eddward, but you can call me Double D. I educate the kids here about the facts of war and everything else they study in school. It's my job to keep everyone here educated."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah Mr. Bookworm. We can teach these kids here how to sleep through class without getting caught later."

Double D got an annoyed look on his face, and he quickly got back to introducing himself.

"We've been here for almost ten months now. In those ten months, we've been holding off whatever the government began to throw at us. That is, until you came along."

Billy walked up and began to speak his mind, not noticing that Mandy put a hand on his shoulder to try and stop him.

"What are you going to do with us? You brought us here for a reason, McGee. Well, spit it out. We didn't come here so you could have a fucking chat with us? Now, tell us!"

Eddy shook his head and took a long drag of the cigarette, reducing it to half. He blew smoke Billy's way, which Billy contradicted with a smoke cloud of his own. It filled the room, and Double D fanned the smoke away from his hand.

Eddy walked up to Billy again, and he did the same. They eventually got so close they were in kissing distance. Eddy smirked a little, while Billy's face kept his scowl.

"I like you, kid. You got heart." Eddy complimented.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Billy asked, frustrated.

Eddy chuckled and dragged his cigarette again. Billy looked into his eyes, and noticed something haunting them. Raising his hand, Eddy twirled a finger and looked to his second in command.

"Take them to the drill room. I'll see you in a few."

Billy broke into a cold sweat, Mandy began to breathe through teeth, Irwin's teeth chattered. The group felt a change in the atmosphere and the way they walked, they thought they were going through Hell, and not came back.


	13. The Traitor

ZOOM!

The sound of a power drill fills the almost empty room, the students lined up in single file.

CLING!

Metal hits against metal, the sound bounces off the walls.

CLICK!

Within minutes of the operation, the collar comes off. Female Student No. 16 breathes a sigh of relief and rushes out of the room. Billy, who was shaking with rage and panic, takes a last drag of his cigarette before putting it down on the ground.

"Next!" the soldier yelled.

Male Student No. 16 came to sit down on the stool in front of the soldier. As he takes a good look at the soldier, he begins to notice something. She removes her mask, revealing a gorgeous and beautiful face.

"…Sister?" No. 16 said.

She looked at him, her baby blue eyes flickering. She looks at him with a confused look. The boy in front of her, with brown hair and brown eyes, looked her in the eyes, his eyes filled with confusion, happiness and sadness.

"Marco, is that you?" she asked, surprised.

Marco stands up; a smile comes across his lips and embraces his sister. Her eyes brim with tears. He strokes her blonde locks and carefully kisses her on the cheek.

"Amie, I'm so glad you're alive."

She leans up and kisses him as well. She then began to remember the good times she had with him. Marco was a year older than the rest of his classmates; the reason being was he was held back. It would be his second time he went to 9th grade. When she went to high school, it took a turn for the worse. She was selected to be apart of the game that year, the other towns being Peach Creek and Las Blanca. She had won the game, but the warm welcoming he longed to give her would be swept away. She didn't come home that night, and he spent all that year thinking about where she was.

"I've missed you so much, Amie." Marco said.

"I've missed you, too Marco." Amie replied.

While the family reunion was being held, another began to take place, or what seemed like one. Female Student No.14, standing in the middle of the line, looked around and saw her brother.

"Jonathan?" No. 14 said.

Jonathan looked away suddenly, pretending not to notice.

"Jonathan, it's me, Sarah!" She desperately said.

Out of nowhere, a soldier spoke up.

"Is that your name? Sarah?" he asked.

"Yeah, what of it?"

The soldier stood up, the muscular build he had finally showing. It was Ed Burkins.

"I had a sister named Sarah. She used to look just like you."

Out of curiosity, Sarah began to ask him about her.

"What happened?" Sarah began.

Jonathan, who kept quiet this whole time, grabbed his sister by the arm and pulled her in.

"He doesn't want to talk about it." He whispered.

"Why doesn't he? Were they close?"

"No, it's just that he doesn't want to bring up the program again."

Sarah eventually lets up and goes back to the line, watching her older brother.

…

Eventually, it came down to Billy and Mandy. Throughout the whole game, they stayed by each other's side. Billy was the most loyal, throwing his life on the line the most to save her. Billy went first and walked to the stool.

Mandy, who never felt anything but rage and frustration, felt something else well up inside her. The feeling she was feeling was fear…not fear for herself. She had been through so much with Billy; the only thing she feared for was for him.

Without thinking, she grabs Billy's hand and holds it tight. Billy feels his cheeks go hot as he feels his collar getting loose.

"I think that should do it." Amie said.

Billy felt his neck, nothing but smooth skin. Billy smiled and looked towards Mandy, who was smiling a little as well. He gets up to let Mandy have her turn. Mandy's face went back into a scowl, not trusting them at all.

"Mandy, its okay. I went through it." Billy reassured.

"Yeah but…what if…"

"Shh…it's okay." Billy said.

"I always thought you two were going out." Marco rebuttals.

Billy snickers while Mandy gets hot in the face. Marco takes note of the beet red face and begins to stammer.

"I take it back, I take it back. It's not funny."

"It's never been funny." Mandy snarled.

Mandy waited for her collar to come off, not letting go of Billy's hand.

…6:00 p.m.

Back at HQ, they lost contact with the students, not knowing where they were. Hours ago, the collars went off, losing track of all of them.

"Sir, you need to come see this." One soldier said.

Mr. McIntosh, who was too deep into a book, looked up from his desk, surprised.

"Why, what happened?" Mr. McIntosh asked.

"We don't know, the students' collars just went off." The soldier said.

Mr. McIntosh jumps from his chair and walks into the control room, leaving open the book he was reading; the 8th grade yearbook he was keeping.

"Sir, we lost all contact with the students. They just went in the dark a while ago!"

"Get contact with the chief. We need those kids back." One soldier yells.

The soldiers frantically tried to get the signal up, trying their hard to avoid capital punishment. Mr. McIntosh looks around the room, walking with his hands behind his back. He checks the computers and smirks a little when he sees them.

Out of nowhere, the president appears on the television screen.

"Good evening, Mr. McIntosh." The president says.

"Good evening to you."

The president straightens his glasses and combs back his white hair.

"How are you and your class doing?" The president asks.

"We are doing well. We lost their signal a while ago." Mr. McIntosh replies.

"A shame, they were some good soldiers, those kids."

"True that, true that."

The silence fills the room, as they wait for a response for the president.

"Eighty-five years ago, my great-grandfather fought in World War 2. I guess you could say, I'm an army brat." The president says, and he chuckles.

"Those kids reminded me of the Japanese. Headstrong, didn't know when to quit, always seeming to throw their lives away."

Mr. McIntosh raises an eyebrow at that remark.

"Those kids you teach…why did you even teach them?"

"Every kid needs an education, Mr. President. You said so yourself."

"Well, not those brats."

"What do you mean?" Mr. McIntosh says, narrowing his eyebrows.

"Those punks do nothing but fight, break the law and get STDs. It's not healthy for society."

"But, education gets them into a better life." Mr. McIntosh says.

"Well, it's nothing compared to the kids who actually do well in school. No wonder they got picked."

"What are you getting at?"

The president leans in, chuckling all the way.

"Did you even care about those kids? Well, who knows what they're doing now. They might've killed each other right about now."

"Don't say that…they're good kids."

"Well, I don't think you're a good teacher since you say that. That's why I'm calling in the SEALs."

"WHAT?" Mr. McIntosh yells.

"I'm launching an attack that's going to start tomorrow morning. It'll wipe out those pesky resistance kids."

"What about the students?"

The president leans back in his chair, combing his hair again.

"Oh, they'll just go with them, I guess."

"No! You murdering dog!"

"Mr. McIntosh, I'm surprised at you."

"Eighty-five years ago, your father fought in World War 2 right? Well, after that they created the Battle Royale system. But, we Americans couldn't allow that, so we copied them. It's because of sons of bitches like you who allowed that to happen?"

"Why do you care so much? You never liked them before."

Just as he says that, Mr. McIntosh reveals his collar, hiding under his turtleneck sweater.

…

The night sky begins to darken, the students and the militia dead asleep. Hours ago, they removed their collars, losing contact with HQ after the loss. Mandy couldn't sleep, rustling and turning trying to get comfortable and trying to shut those light eyes, although she always failed.

As she shuffles over Billy, he taps her on the shoulder.

"Can't sleep either, eh?" Billy asks.

"Yeah…I guess."

"Me neither. I wish I could though."

Mandy looks out the window, looking at the grass on the horizon. The grass billows and weaves, just like the ocean. The night sky seemed to reflect off the grass, making it seem they were out at sea.

"Billy…" Mandy said.

"Yeah?" he responds.

"Do you ever feel that feeling where you're waiting to die?"

Billy looks away and sighs a huge sigh.

"I think of that all of the time."

Mandy moves her head, surprised by the sudden comment.

"All of the time? What do you mean?"

Billy looks out the window, beginning to remember horrible memories.

"I used to get bullied by everyone in school, and my parents didn't do anything about it. Grim got deported back to Jamaica, I'm not that smart, I can't seem to fit anywhere…I just think sometimes I'm a waste of skin."

"Billy, don't talk like that." Mandy reassures.

"Sometimes, I don't feel like I'm worth it. I don't think I should live."

"Billy, I never saw this side of you, it's weird."

"Yeah, but it takes a while to fully understand. I wish I could live someone else's life, you know. It's just too stressful for me. Nobody was there for me to keep my spirits up,

So I ask myself, why should I keep on going?"

Mandy looks down at the ground then back at him, his head in his hands.

Mandy takes one hand and holds it close to her.

"Well, you have someone now."

Billy looks her in her eyes, Mandy smiles a real smile and they embrace, the feeling of the embrace makes Mandy tired, another feeling she hadn't felt for a long time.

Out on the other corner of the room, Irwin looks on with envy. While he looks on with a green look in his eyes, he thinks and thinks and thinks…

"That son of a bitch…he'll get what's coming to him."

…3:00 a.m

The soldiers land on the soft grass, being careful their helicopters don't disturb the soldiers.

"Red crown, this is Blue King, how copy?"

"Solid Copy, Blue King. Proceeding to mission checkpoint."

The soldiers quietly shift through the glass, carefully and quietly. Out of nowhere, something is seen in the distance.

"Blue King, this is Red Crown. We've got what seems to be a hostile in the area."

"Roger, Red Crown. Go and take subject into custody."

The soldiers quickly move in, making out the figure. The figure stood about 5'4", dark skinned, and looked like a kid.

"Hey, kid. You with these clowns?"

"No, I'm not." The figure says.

"Well, we could use your help."

"What do you need?"

"We need to get to a checkpoint and fast. You seem to know this terrain better…can you help us?"

"Oh sure, I'll help you. Let me load my gun first."

Grateful that they have an ally so quickly, the soldiers move fast, letting the kid lead the way.

"Uh…I hate that I didn't introduce myself…my name's Bob. What's yours?"

"My name…is Irwin." The boy says, straightening his glasses to see a smile wide and his eyes narrowed.


	14. The Reliving

…

Morning rises, bringing out the sun's bright rays. The morning dew glistens as the students are still off in deep sleep. Some soldiers slept with their guns at their hip, others relaxed and held off the fear of dying for a little bit.

Mandy woke up slowly but surely, yawning a quiet yawn. She sits up and stretches her tired muscles, feeling refreshed and ready to go. She looks at Billy, who looked so peaceful at rest, a burnt out cigarette between his lips. It was a pretty funny scene, making Mandy smile. She grabs his shoulder and shakes him.

"Billy…wake up." Mandy whispers.

Billy grunts a little, but opens his weary eyes to see the blonde haired, brown eyed girl he called his best friend. He smiles as he speaks.

"Hi, Mandy. How's it going?" Billy asks.

"It's going great. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Billy responds.

Billy reaches out his hand and asks Mandy to pull him up. She does so, pulling him off the ground as fast as she could. He dusts off his vest and his other clothes, and straightens his gloves. He pulls out the unlit cigarette from his lips, confused as to how it got there.

"You got a light?" Billy asks.

"No…sorry." Mandy responds.

"Damn, that's a shame. Whatever, I'll save it for later."

Mandy nods her head, and takes out her hair from its bun. What happens was a sight of pure beauty in Billy's eyes. Her hair fell and the golden locks swayed to and fro, glistening in the sunlight. Billy shook his head and snapped himself out of his trance.

"What's the matter?" Mandy asks, worried.

"Nothing, just a fly. Let's go get something to eat."

"Alright, let's go."

Mandy led the way, walking in front like she did when they were little. Billy couldn't stop looking at her beautiful hair, moving back and forth a little as she walked. Billy almost ran into her when he snapped out again, noticing that Mandy was asking a soldier, the Ed kid he saw, where the cafeteria was.

"Hey, kid. You know where the cafeteria is?"

Ed pointed his thumb down the alley and pointed out where they should enter. Billy and Mandy began walking but stopped when Ed asked them.

"Wait…can I come with you guys?"

Mandy looked at Billy, who shrugged as if he was saying _why not_. Mandy agreed and shifted her head, indicating he could come. Ed walked straight towards them, Billy fearing he would plow them over.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Ed said, cheerfully.

"You seem really excited for just a small breakfast."

"I'm excited because it's pancake Sunday today. By the way, my name's Ed." Ed stuck his hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Billy, Billy Davidson." And he shook his hand firmly.

Mandy looked hesitant, a little wary of the boys' size. Ed was built like a bodybuilder, all bulky and strong. It was out of the ordinary for a teenager, so it kind of intimated her. She still headed on strong though. Mandy thought about passing him until Billy snapped twice.

"Mandy, it's alright. He seems okay."

Mandy thought about what happened the day before, but sucking it up, she gave him her hand. It was strong and firm, a feeling she felt when she first met Billy.

"Mandy, Mandy McCloud… Nice to meet you, Ed."

"Nice to meet you, too. Let's go."

…

By the time they got their breakfast, half of the students were down in the cafeteria. For only three pancakes, a simple recipe of water, flour, eggs etc. It tasted great. Mandy portioned out to make it last, while she noticed Ed and Billy gulping down their first plate. Mandy shook her head at their table matters, remembering what a slob Billy was when he first had dinner at their house.

"I'm still hungry." Billy exclaims.

"Me, too. You want to go up and get some more." Ed asks.

"Boy would I!" Billy exclaims, and the two race towards the counter.

After about four plates of what they thought was the most delicious pancakes ever, Billy and Ed went up to get some more. Before he could get up, Mandy puts her hand on his shoulder and sits him down.

"I think you have had enough for one day, Billy."

"Yeah, kid." Eddy exclaims who was sitting across from their table. "With Ed around, you guys would run this place dry."

Billy considered this, and he nodded and sat back down, disposing his tray near the trash can near his table.

"Yeah, I think you're right. Besides, I need to go smoke anyway."

Hearing the word _smoke _go past his lips, Eddy rose out of his seat, and presented a cigarette pack from his pocket.

"Hey, I got some here, you want one?" he asked, showing off the pack of Morlbarry cigarettes.

"Nah, it's cool. I got some right here." Eddy responds, pulling out his pack of Oldboats, half of the cigarettes gone.

"Alright, alright. You've got yours and I've got mine. Let's go."

Eddy begins walking out of the cafeteria, waving his hand in the air, making Billy jump out of his seat. He walks side by side with Eddy, while Mandy watches on. Billy's combat fatigues looked better than Billy's clothes, but she didn't care, as long as he was still alive.

"Don't worry about me, Mandy. I'll be alright. Why don't you go and make friends?"

Mandy thought on his words before getting out the words,

"I'll try, and could you save one of those for me?"

Billy looked back, confused but he nodded his head.

"Alright, I'll save you one."

Mandy sees them turn the corner as she goes and takes her tray up.

…

Outside on the steps leading to the entrance of the mayor's office, Billy puts a cigarette from his lips, leaning towards Eddy, indicating to light it for him. Eddy took his lighter and burns the tip of the cigarette. Billy puff out smoke before blowing out whole-heartedly.

"How'd you get those?" Eddy asks.

"Uh, some guy I'm cool with gave me these before I got into this fucked up game."

Eddy nods and lights his, the two soldiers relaxing while they look out across the day, the sun halfway up. Eddy looks at Billy, dressed in camouflage and his black bulletproof vest, examining his former enemy.

"Hey, kid. Where'd you come from?" Eddy asks.

"My name's Billy. And I came from Endsville." Billy responds.

"Endsville, huh? I went there once. It was for a vacation, because my uncle wanted to get me out of the house."

"Did you guys drive there?" Billy asks.

"Nah, we flew there to go to his beach house. We stayed there for about a month, until they told me I had to go back."

"Damn, dude. Your parents must've been fucked up."

"You don't even want to know. What were your parents like?"

Billy began to remember the times his parents didn't care. They were too stupid or they didn't care and made him do all of the stuff around the house while they did nothing and made them like a slave.

"Well, my parents were really stupid. Like, mentally retarded. Well, my dad was, kind of weird that he served in the Navy. Anyway, my mother would usually smother me with stuff I didn't want to do. I mean, I did some humiliating shit. I don't want to talk about it. But, she said she was just showing me how to live. I didn't do all the shit regular kids could do. They gave me a mentor; we called him Grim because sometimes he looked like him. Then last year, you guys killed my parents in a bombing and my mentor got deported to Jamaica. Then, I got a surgery to make me smarter."

"Damn, kid. You had it really weird."

"Yeah, I'm kind of glad they're dead. But…"

"But, what?" Eddy asks.

"It's times like this I really miss them. They were the only parents I ever had, and they're gone. I hated them, but they were at home when I came back from school. That has to count for something."

Eddy began to recall his life, his parents beating him and his brother teasing him.

"Well, sometimes you got to push from the past and go forward."

"Yeah, but it's hard, you know?"

They smoke the cigarettes to the bud, and they pull out another one. Billy takes out Eddy's lighter and lights it. He passes the lighter and they relax again.

"You know, I was in a Program similar to this."

"Yeah, I saw you on TV when they announced the winner."

"The thing was, I wasn't really a winner. I escaped with Ed and Double D. Nazz was with us too."

"Who's she?"

"You could say we were going out, but it was on and off. Anyway, she's at some hideout, said she'd be here soon."

Billy's curiosity piqued and he asked more questions.

"What happened in that Game?"

Eddy began to remember bits and pieces, finally pushing out the words.

"We left and I teamed up with Nazz… had to kill a guy with this machete." Eddy moves his jacket and shows off his machete.

"It was program issued. We met up with this kid named Johnny, and old friend of mine. We stayed together through the whole program. Johnny kept an eye on us, kept us safe. Fought this psycho kid for us, that kid gave him a huge scar on his back before the Game. We eventually saw this psycho bitch fight him, a psycho bitch that gave me these scars."

Eddy lifts up his shirt and reveals the three scratch marks across his chest.

"Damn, those are deep."

"Hell yeah…to make matters worse, the psycho bitch and the sociopath teamed up and went after us. They hunted us down like wild animals. We escaped from them as long as we could. Eventually, we were noticing Johnny have a plan."

Billy leaned in, cigarette dangling from his mouth as he kept on.

"We eventually got to this Cliffside. Johnny looked at me, and he said…"

Eddy began to get choked up, and he felt like crying. Billy takes note of this and pats his back.

"He told us to not forget him, and he…he…sacrificed himself."

Billy looks down and begins to grow sad.

"That reminds me of my cousin, Nergal."

"What?" Eddy said, still trying to get that lump out of his throat.

"We were fighting you guys, and he sacrificed himself. I'll miss him."

Billy and Eddy looked at each other, uniting in each other's grief.

"At least we're on the same side now, right?"

Billy takes Eddy's hand and the two hold them up in front of each other.

"Right. We'll stick together till the end."

As soon as they said that, a rocket zoomed through the sky and crashed into the building, knocking them from their seats, making them black out.


	15. The Enemy of My Enemy

Billy's vision was blurred; his ears rang what seemed to be endlessly. His cigarette flew from his mouth as he was thrown off from the shock of the rocket. Debris came down hard, forcing Billy to curl up into a ball to keep himself alive. Disoriented, he walked around, trying to keep his balance.

Billy began to hear someone calling his name. The voice was muffled and he couldn't care less when he was walking. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he didn't care and he kept on walking. He finally stopped after he was turned around.

"Billy, what are you doing?"

Billy shook his head to shake his delirium, looking at Eddy. His face was determined and hardened, but shock came through.

"Billy, get inside! They're sending out mortars."

"What? Where's Mandy?" Billy demanded.

"I don't know! Go and find her! Go, now!"

Billy didn't hesitate to start running, and he quickly sprinted through the doors. The whole inside of the base was in chaos, kids running this way and that. One girl was crawling on the floor, a huge piece of rock sticking out from her leg. One kid was hanging from his coat collar, dead from an impact.

Billy began to get worried, and he frantically started to search through the rubble. He began shouting out her name, scared for her life.

"Mandy, Mandy! Are you okay?" Billy began to scream.

No response. Billy shouted again, this time louder.

"Mandy! Where are you?" Billy shouted.

Billy then heard moaning. The moaning came from behind him, just outside in a hallway. Billy rushed out in the hall, looking everywhere and calling her name. When he found her, she was laying face first on the floor, trying hard to keep conscious. Billy picks her up, taking note of the scar on her face.

"Mandy, are you okay?" Billy asks, frantically.

Mandy flutters her eyes open, her eyes shining in the light. Mandy quietly but surely begins to speak.

"Yeah, I'm okay….truly."

Billy couldn't stand the sight of her hurt. It's been that way ever since they first met. One day, when they were eight, she was pushed down and scraped her knee by a bully. The sight of her leg bleeding sent Billy into a frenzy, and he attacked the bully sending him to the hospital. When they were fourteen, Mandy was slapped in the face by Mindy, and Billy almost strangled her to death. It was through Grim's words and his constant pulling that made him stop. This time was no different.

Billy's face turned into a red that nobody could describe. He looked out on the horizon and saw soldiers sprinting up towards the building. In a fit of rage, he runs full force into the battlefield, picking up an assault rifle from a dead soldier on the way.

Billy began firing with all his might, shooting at anything that moved. The other students quickly began following the leader like they always did, and they began shooting from the inside of the building. Billy's rage didn't die down one bit, making some of the students and rebels take notice. It wasn't until he saw someone familiar that made him stop shooting.

In the middle of the barrage of soldiers and bullets a lone soldier stood out. He was about 5'4", had dark skin and he had a big gut. His glasses shown as he walked towards Billy.

"Irwin? Is that you?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

Billy stood there in shock, until he snapped out of it and ran towards him.

"Irwin, look behind you. Help us take out-"

Before Billy could finish his sentence, Irwin punches him in the face, knocking him down.

"What the hell? What are you doing?" Billy asks.

Irwin kicks him in the face and stands over him, a glare on his face.

"I'm doing what you could've done…what you were supposed to do." Irwin exclaims as he punches Billy in the face.

"I'm going to prove that to Mandy. Prove she should've chosen a real man instead of you."

Billy sprints towards Irwin, who in turn clotheslines him and knocks him down again.

"And when she sees how stupid you are, I'm going to get rid of you in front of her, and she'll be all mine!"

"She'll never be yours, you nerdy fuck. You could never get anybody even if you tried." Billy shouts.

"Oh, we'll see things differently. After you die, I'll come and say what everyone says in movies: He jumped on me! He lost it! We'll see what happens then."

Billy didn't waste anytime going after Irwin. Billy assumes a fighting stance, while Irwin circles around him. Billy is the first one to strike, but Irwin dodges the punch and knees Billy in the stomach. He tightens his muscles to absorb the blow. Irwin then backhands Billy, leaving a red mark on his face. Billy's rage kindles again, his anger guiding his every move. As the fight goes on, bullets fly all around them, the circumstances of the battle getting higher and higher.

After the wave of soldiers was clear, Billy and Irwin were still fighting. Irwin and Billy land blow after blow on each other, each somehow finding it's mark either in the groin, stomach or face area. Eventually, Billy begins to get the upper hand. While he wrestles Irwin to the ground, Irwin reaches behind his back and pulls out a knife.

"Oh, did I mention I have this? Those soldiers over there gave me one." Irwin says, the knife glistening in his eyes.

"You'll see how great that is after I stab you to death with it." Billy grunts.

"We'll see about that."

Irwin comes towards Billy with the knife, slicing his cheek. Billy puts his hand to his wound, stumbling back. He looks up, seeing Irwin flipping his knife in triumph.

The smirk on his face set him off. Billy came after him like a wild animal, shouting a battle cry that everyone could hear. He pounces on Irwin, who was surprised at him. They wrestle for the knife, eventually tearing it out of Irwin's hands and it drops one hundred inches behind them.

Billy looks at Irwin, who looks back at him. They then look at the knife, the blade glistening in the sunlight. While Billy became mesmerized, Irwin knocks him in the face, scrambling for the knife. Billy catches up to him, diving at him and pulling him back. The struggle begins again as both boys are so close to the knife, but their fighting puts them so far away from it.

Just when all seemed lost, Billy gains the upper hand again, and he grabs the knife holds it up in the air. Irwin's face grows of shock, and it becomes fear as Billy comes down with the knife. It plants itself in his chest, inches away from his heart. Billy had won, he had defeated his enemy.

Before he passed, Irwin mutters these words,

"You…bastard…you're just…like…them." And he chuckles as he dies.


	16. The Prayer

The battle was averted. Eddy's resistance and the students banded together to fight a new common enemy and they succeeded. The only one to go against them was Irwin, who in a fit of envy betrayed the students and sided with the government, the only student in the whole class to do so. The sun began to set in the distance, the battle long over with.

As the sun went down, a fire was built in the middle of the town, a remembrance to those who died before and now, and everyone came down to mourn, even the students. Billy plops himself down besides Eddy, who was sipping a flask of bourbon.

"You alright?" Eddy asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little irritated." Billy responded.

As the two boys sat and watched the fire, Double D comes from the crowd with a bible. He stands in front of the fire and begins to pray,

_Yay, though we walk through the valley in the shadow of death, we will live on for these souls lost in combat. The brothers we so desperately tried to save from tyranny have been lost to the cause, forever in vain. Although we shall live on remembering this horrifying day, our hearts and souls will come together and we shall rise again. The adults who hate us and the adults who join us are all together on this very night. In our hearts and minds, but forever legends as long as we live. Amen. _

Billy looks at Eddy, who passes the flask to him.

"Want some?"

Billy looks hesitant but snatches the flask away in a fit of rage, downing the burning liquid into his throat and stomach. It would be the first time he actually had tasted real beer; the ones he had actually tasted were just vodka and jagermeister, just hard liquor. Billy takes note of the taste, not too strong but not too light, just how bourbon should taste.

"Who was the kid you were fighting with? It looked like you guys knew each other." Eddy asks.

"That was…Irwin." Billy responds.

Eddy leans in, intrigued at his hesitance. He signals Billy to tell him his story, to which Billy hesitantly agrees to do.

"Sigh…we were best friends all through elementary school. I was the stupid one and he was the brainy yet weak one. I was pretty stupid before I got my surgery, so he used me to get what he wanted. After my surgery, I found out that I was nothing but a toy, a puppet in his eyes, and our friendship died."

"Damn…sounds rough."

"It is once you really figure out who your real friends are."

Eddy looks on into the fire, until a duo of soldiers break the silence.

"Wait up, don't put it out yet." One soldier shouts.

The duo comes in carrying a body. The body was going into rigor mortis, as noticed by the trouble the soldiers are having carrying it. The glasses that reflected in the sunset were shining in Billy's eyes. The knife in his chest was still there. Billy instantly recognized who it was and stands up. He walks over to the body.

"Hey, you." Billy says.

The soldiers look up to see him, although they couldn't make out who it was because all they saw was a shadow. Billy comes into view and his look was a look of great anger and frustration.

"Give me that knife, that thing in his body."

"But, that's our property now. We brought the body in." One soldier exclaims.

"On whose authority?"

The soldiers look at each other hesitantly. They looked at him with a confused look. Billy takes advantage of the situation and pulls the knife out. The eight inch blade, serrated on the back, was blood stained, but with a few swipes on the grass, the blade became shiny again. Billy takes the holster and straps it to his pants, sheathing the knife and keeping it for later.

Billy walks back to his seat beside Eddy, with Eddy noticing the knife on his leg.

"Where'd you get that knife?" Eddy asks.

"I found it; I just went back for it." Billy says.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm heading back in."

Billy walks away from the fire, but stops and eventually looks back. The sight of the fire and Irwin's burning body disgusts him and he shakes his head and goes back to the base. All the while, Mandy watches her best friend walk away in disgust, and she thinks about her actions and the whole class's actions as she watches.

…12:00

The rest of the soldiers have walked back in. Mandy walks in with the rest of them, staying behind for the final prayer. She never was a religious person, but in times like that, she needed a prayer or two. Mandy separates from the crowd to find Billy. When she saw the look on her face, she knew something was wrong.

It wasn't long before she finds him, helmet in his hands and one leg moving up and down rapidly, a cigarette between his lips.

"Billy…"

Billy looks up to see Mandy standing in the doorway, and the look on his face turns from angry to emotionless. He puts his head down and takes a drag; the movement in his leg slows down and finally stops.

"Billy, why did you walk away like that?" Mandy asks.

"I don't want to talk about it." Billy says.

"Billy, please tell me. You're my best friend."

"You wouldn't understand."

Mandy turns away for a moment and rests her hands on her knees, then looks out from the window behind her. The moon is closer than before and brighter and the stars were waning in and out of the sky.

"You noticing the stars, or are you just gazing?" Billy asks, his voice not wavering from the cold and frustrated tone.

"Billy, you're starting to worry me. I've never seen you act like this before."

Billy looks at her, then back down at the floor. He takes a huge drag of the cigarette and puts it out on the floor. His eyes then begin to brim with tears, his throat began to get a lump, and he raises his head. Mandy looks in his eyes, the tears dripping down his face and puts an arm over his shoulder.

"What? What's the matter?"

Billy swallows his pride and begins to speak, but all he could do is sob. Mandy, saddened at the fact her best friend was crying, hugs him firmly.

"It's okay, Billy…" Mandy whispers softly.

"He was right…he was right." Billy finally chokes out.

"Who was right?"

Billy lets his grip go but keeps his hands on her arms, looking at her deeply into her eyes. His voice lets out a gasp, but he eventually lets the words fly.

"I found Irwin. He was with those soldiers that attacked us earlier. I thought he was running from them or he was doing something, but I was wrong. We were talking, but he eventually attacked me. We fought, but I eventually killed him. But, he said to me 'I was just like them'…I just found out what he meant."

Mandy begins to look shocked then sad again, but she cocks her head sideways to indicate that she wanted him to tell her.

"We're just like them. The adults…we're just like them. The way we fight, the way we take orders, the way we kill. We're just like them. No matter what we do, we'll become adults like them and we'll become just like them. We only have three years until that happens. We're becoming our enemy, do you get it?"

Mandy considers his words, and she nods agreeing. Billy slumps back and the tears flow from his face, leaving a stream down his cheeks. Mandy looks on, feeling his pain.

What happens next was unexpected. Before Billy could speak again, Mandy leans in and kisses his cheek. Billy feels where she kissed him, and Mandy looks on sympathetically. Billy, realizes she was always there, hugs her again. As Mandy wraps his arms around her, a sudden change in emotion surged through her head, and it was a feeling she didn't feel in a long time; love.

As she sits there and holds Billy, she begins to think.

"This must be what it feels like to love someone. This must be truly love. This feeling has long escaped my thoughts, and now it returns to me, softly."

They hold each other until they fall asleep.


	17. The Skywatcher

…7:00

The morning was brutal. The sun came up and the heat was unbearable. The students woke up sweating profusely; some kids took off their jackets and other fatigues. Soldiers brought out tubs of water and poured it on themselves to kick the early morning heat. Others began to swim in the nearby creek, especially the younger kids. Billy woke up, sweating like a pig, but it didn't faze him. Overnight, Billy became a new person; he'd become the leader of the remaining students.

Billy's day started with a rigorous training regimen. As soon as he woke up, he began to do pushups to wake himself up. After that, he went to the workout room in the entire base and began to lift weights to keep up his strength. After that, he ran laps up and down a hill, training with the soldiers. For hours, he trained his body to his limits. After a workout, he would then sit down to a nice and relaxing smoke.

Mandy watched him from afar, wondering about that kiss the night before. She truly loved Billy, but the way she loved him was different. It did feel different, considering he is her best friend.

"Billy's always been there for me." She said to herself, "There has to be something there."

These last two days, he has done nothing but protecting her. Mandy's own selfish actions didn't let her realize it until after the first night they hid in the base. She began to think about all that he did for her. The way he tried to get her to explain herself, when he laid on top of her to shield her from the bullets, everything he did was for her. She knew she could never pay him back, but she thought she could at least try.

Billy watched some of the students left alive, Marco watching the kids play, Male No. 15 talking with some of the soldiers in a group therapy session, Mindy fixing her hair and braiding it, and Male No. 18 playing handball with another group of soldiers. Their partners were doing something, but Billy didn't care, as he didn't see them.

Tired and out of breath, Billy sits down by Mandy, wiping his face with his tank top.

"You got any water?" Billy asks.

Mandy takes a water bottle from behind her and tosses it to Billy, and he chugs it down. Licking his lips in satisfaction, he lies down and looks up at the sky.

"We've been here for two days and I already forgot what a cloudy day looks like." He exclaims.

Mandy chuckles and leans back, her hands supporting herself. As Billy begins to relax, he looks up at the sky and begins to point out shapes.

"Hey Mandy, look at that!"

He points to a cloud, prompting Mandy to look up.

"That cloud up there looks like a house. No, wait, it looks like a rock."

Mandy chuckles slightly and she leans her head back, the golden hair she had almost touching the golden grass. She points up to the sky, just like Billy did.

"Hey, Billy, check that out. That one looks like a TV."

"You're right, look at that one. It looks like firework."

Mandy lies down beside Billy, putting her hands behind her head for a pillow. Billy smiles slightly as he pulls a cigarette from his pocket. The tip burns a bright orange and the smoke churns in the air, dancing all around and forming figures in front of his face.

"Hey, Billy. Did you remember that cigarette I asked you to save?" Mandy asks.

"Oh yeah, here have one." Billy responds, and he takes one and gives it to her, giving her a lighter.

Mandy never smoked a day in her life, so she began to cough. Billy guffaws at her and pats her on the shoulder, helping get it out of her system.

"It's not funny, Billy." Mandy exclaims.

"Well, we're both laughing. Don't worry; you'll get the hang of it."

And she did get the hang of it. After about three puffs, she began to inhale like she had been smoking for a long time. The buzz she felt began to get bigger and bigger, until she felt like she was in the clouds.

Billy looks at her, admiring the best friend in front of him. She closed her eyes, and she looked so peaceful. The best friend, no sister, in front of him was his driving force, and as long as she was around, he would protect her.

"Nothing like a smoke after a good workout, huh?" Billy says.

Mandy nods her head and relaxes again. The peace she felt made her feel like she was at home, watching TV with her friends and playing basketball at school. She wasn't the frustrated, angry little girl she once was. Sure, she was cynical, but she was calm and playful, like a teenager should.

"It's hard to believe that we'll be adults in three years."

Mandy looks at Billy, who had a look on his face as if he was saying oh well, like it didn't matter.

"Yeah, I know. Hard to believe, huh?"

"Yeah, but at the same time, I can believe it. We've been through so much, I can't wait to go back home. These three years will seem like heaven after what we've been through."

Mandy considered his words, and she agrees. In these two days, they killed people, watched people die and see their friends turn on each other. The three years that they have left of their childhood should be pleasant and wonderful, not full of violence and death. The way things were, they were inconsiderable to a regular person living back home, but it was what it was.

Billy sat up and stretched his legs, his cigarette dangling from his lips. Mandy looked on and admired him just like he admired her. Mandy didn't see a boy anymore; no she didn't see the same Billy anymore. She saw a man, a man that would lay his life down for her at any moment. This muscular wonder could've been one of the bravest people on earth, and have nothing to get. Mandy wondered to herself, has he always been doing this? When she was younger, she was so selfish and angry that she didn't see the boy who would be her savior one day, she only saw a tool. Now, that tool grew up. Too fast, if you ask.

"Billy, what are you going to do when you get out of here?" Mandy asked.

"I don't know. Get a job, get a family, do anything anyone else would do. I mean, this game shouldn't pull us back, you know."

"I get what you're saying. Do you ever wonder what people would do when they find out you survived this program?"

"Sometimes, yeah. I think that people are going to assume that I'm going to kill them in one glance or some shit like that. But, I'm sure that they'll get past it."

Mandy looked to the sky and let the words echo in her mind. She didn't know what she would do if she went home, or what will happen to her. Will she become one of those homeless war veterans, or wind up in a crazy hospital? She pondered that to herself, her cynical self coming back.

"I have to go and take a shower, Mandy." Billy exclaims.

"Why do you have to do it now?" Mandy complained.

"I smell like a compost heap, what do you think? Ha-ha, just kidding."

Billy walks away from the hill and Mandy, looking up at the sky, pointing out shapes and figures. Mandy looks back at him and then towards the sky, pointing out shapes herself.

"Like I say to myself. I can't pay you back, Billy. But, I'm sure as hell I'll try."


	18. The Sermon

…5:00 p.m.

The building back home was quiet; the computers were completely shut down. Tired from all the work they were doing, some soldiers went home or went to sleep in the base. Computers were shut off, TVs were turned to different channels, and the whole place seemed abandoned. The only person not sleeping was Mr. McIntosh, the former science teacher of the current Endsville Battle Royale II Program. Except, something was wrong…

Mr. McIntosh, who two days ago seemed like he didn't care for the kids that he had shipped off to war, was crying. Softly but mournfully, he sat at his desk, tears dripping over a picture, the last picture of the eighth grade year, him and all of his students. The tear drops began to stain the photo, the red X's where the dead students were becoming lighter and running.

"I'm sorry, kids. I'm sorry we couldn't do anything, I'm sorry _I _couldn't do anything." He said to himself.

The eighth grade year for him was fantastic, those kids being his favorite class. Sure, they were rough around the edges, but on the inside, he knew they were all talented. He once saw Billy take on five people in football, Mandy was exceptional at the violin and Nergal was exceptional in math and science. He believed that they were all talented and their futures were bright, but the government saw the complete opposite.

In a fit of rage, Mr. McIntosh flips the desk over, making the contents spill out. He throws his chair at the chalkboard, making it shatter into pieces. The former sociopath teacher, as what he called himself, finally left and he was alone in his thoughts.

"I'm so sorry…there has to be a way to stop this."

…

Meanwhile, back at the building, Billy was all tuckered out and sweaty after working out all day. His face was dirty and sweat trails were all around. His tank top had a lot of sweat, which he took off to wash, revealing his muscular upper body. He did look like a boy wonder, as some of the others took two glances to look at him. Although he was really ripped, he looked at the others and told them to go back to what they were doing.

As Billy sits down and thinks about all he did today, he notices Mandy walking towards him, a flask in her hand.

"Here, have some." Mandy offered.

Billy examines the flask, and calmly takes it out of her hand. Just as soon as he touched it, he gulped the flask down, seemingly drinking it in a single gulp.

"Whoa, I didn't know you were that thirsty." Mandy said.

"Yeah, when it comes to bourbon." Billy says, and he belches loudly.

Mandy covers her nose, but instead of riling away in disgust, she found herself laughing. Billy takes note of it and laughs with her too. It was the first time ever Mandy truly had a good laugh.

"Geez, had enough for one night?" Mandy jokes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, officer. I was just uh…uh…okay you got me."

Mandy continued to laugh. Billy began holding his stomach, as if it might burst. The laughing lasted for a while, and he quickly got back to where he was, quietly thinking to himself.

Mandy looks at Billy, who was lost in thought and quietly pulls a book from her new bunk. When Billy was done working out, Eddy showed them their new bunk beds, and they were so overjoyed they went to sleep immediately. When Mandy woke up, she noticed Billy was still asleep, so she went to Double D, who was teaching Ed basic mathematics, and asked to see if she could borrow a bible. Being a non-religious person, it took her a while to get to where she was, but right now, she was on John 1:1.

After Billy jumped off his train of thought, he looked over and noticed Mandy, lost in reading. He raises an eyebrow and the left corner of his mouth rose.

"I didn't know you were a Christian." Billy said.

Mandy stopped reading and froze, her cheeks turning a bright red and she tried to put the Bible away. Billy takes her shoulder and holds it firmly, reminding her to stop before she hurts herself.

"Mandy, its okay. Sometimes, you need God in times like this."

Mandy began to calm down, noting the quiet tone in Billy's voice. When most of her embarrassment went, she forced out the words,

"I thought I could use Him in a time like this. We've been through Hell and back, might as well read from the book."

"Yeah…I'm not a religious guy, too. But, when it comes down to it, I could use him. But, if we ever get out of here, I might not go to church or even worship him, but we could use him now."

Mandy nodded and smiled a little, thanking him silently for not getting on her for her newly found belief. When Mandy looks away, Billy sees the smile on her face. She looks up at him again.

"I was wondering if you could read it with me." Mandy says.

Billy raises an eyebrow at the question, but lets up and shrugs.

"Why not? I could use a verse or two."

Mandy opens the book slowly, using her finger to point out where she left off. Reciting the passages, she read out loud towards him.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not. 6There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.7The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but [came] that he might bear witness of the light. 9There was the true light, [even the light] which lighteth every man, coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God…"

After a few verses, Billy took note of the serious tone in her voice, something he didn't really know about. It was new and alien to him, but it felt right. Mandy closed the bible, giving Billy a look saying 'what do you think?'

"I think you should preach along with that Double D kid." Billy exclaims.

"Really?" Mandy says sarcastically.

"No, I mean it. You sounded really serious, like you knew what you were doing."

"You mean it?" Mandy asks.

"I definitely mean it. You sounded like a poet lo…loo…low…lee…"

"Poet laureate?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

Mandy took his words in consideration, and thinking back to what he had said, she looked up to him and said,

"Thanks…that means a lot."

"No problem, Mandy."

As Billy begins to pull a cigarette, a blast from the speakers on the walls came through, and Ed's voice came in.

"All soldiers who are interested in the rugby game and then poker tournament please go the hall."

Billy heard the words _rugby _and _poker_, two of his favorite things, go through the speakers. Getting excited, Billy gets up and fast walks out of the bunk room.

"Billy, where are you going?" Mandy asks.

"I'm going to go play rugby, then I'm playing poker." Billy responds.

Mandy gets excited, as she too plays poker. She gets up and walks beside him.

"Allow me to join you."

"You play rugby?" Billy asks, surprised.

"Ha-ha…no. I like poker just as much as you do."

Billy smiles and jogs out. Mandy follows him and her face gets a bright smile, thinking to herself that she would watch him from the stands, if they had any.


	19. The Game

"GOAL!"

The score was tied five to five, the students versus the resistance in a friendly game of rugby. The students' uniform was their combat pants and their tank tops, while the soldiers used their regular clothes. Billy was the star player; he had made three out of the five goals.

They played out in the football field closest to the base; half of the stands were filled with cheering soldiers and students, each rooting for their respective teams. Mandy stood on the sidelines, giving Billy water when he needed it.

In a flash, the game was on again. Billy jumps over one of the soldiers trying to tackle him, and he spins around another. He passes the ball to Marco, who sprints forward, using his strength in his legs as a boost. He makes it past the fifty yard line, but he's immediately tackled. He quickly passes it to Male No. 18, who dashes from side to side, jumping on one leg to the other.

Immediately, he's tackled and the ball flies from his grip. Billy quickly picks up the ball and sprints towards the goal, slamming the ball down. The end of the first quarter started and Billy runs towards the bench, Mandy waiting at his side.

"Whew, this is harder than football; ironic since rugby is what the school lets us play."

"Yeah, and besides, you play football only on the weekends."

"Yeah, but that's only for when I get bored."

After about a twenty minute break, the time starts again. Billy rushes up to the field, twisting his cap backwards. He looks towards Marcus, who in turn gives him a nod.

The buzzer starts, Billy tackles the opposing ball handler, who throws it towards the other on his side, he begins to bob and weave through the students. Billy immediately gets up to go after him, sprinting with all of his might. No luck though, as the soldier immediately gets it past the goal.

Billy stomps the ground, but immediately cools off. The game was tied again. Billy began to get a new resolve, got his head in the game, and would take charge again.

…

The final hour of the game was ahead, and the soldiers were leading by two points. During half-time, Billy scoped out his target and took note of the soldier that was close to his height. He was sweating and he lost a lot of energy, and he was easy to spot. Billy knew that he was also the star on his team, and he decided that if their star player couldn't match to him, they would win. To break him was to win.

Billy looked toward Marco, and told him of his plan. Marco also scoped out his prey, and he found it in the soldier who had a ponytail. They spread the word through the team, and they picked out individuals on the opponent's side. When time came for the final play-off, they knew what they would do and they were confidant they would win.

At the start, Billy took off running, going to catch his prey off guard, immediately getting passed the ball, and he began to tire his opponent out. He bobbed and weaved through the mess of players, making the other tired. He passed the ball to Marcus, who slammed his prey out of the way with his shoulder, going straightforward for the goal. He was tackled to the ground, but Male No. 18 immediately picked up the ball and sprinted. He looked behind him and saw his opponent, right on his tail. He picked up speed and made him tired, thanks to him being the fastest runner on the team.

He did it, they made it. They tied at the last ten minutes of the game. Just one more and they would win. The play was brutal, and Billy also began to get tired, but he pressed on and went with the flow. His teammates were tired also, some felt like giving up.

"Come on, guys! One more and we could win this." Billy rallied.

"But, we're so tired. We can't do it!" One said.

"We made it this far! What makes you say we can't do it?"

"Those two…" One said, and he pointed out the toughest ones in the team.

One stood there cracking his knuckles, fixing his dreadlocks so they went off of his face. The other stood with cropped hair, combing his fingers through it. Billy hardened his resolve, and he told the team to huddle in.

"If we can't take them out, why don't we take let them take each other?"

"What do you mean?" Marco asked.

"Look, this kid's the fastest at our old school, right? Why don't we add a little comedy routine to our game play? You get them to come after you, and you let them crash into each other?"

"Are you serious? Sure I'm built like a god, but these guys combined will kill me in a blow."

"I said, you're the fastest guy on the team. If you can run fast, you won't have any trouble, okay?"

The boy bit his lip, but agreed to the plan. The students then broke out in formation on the field, Billy looking to his left and right and nodding, the boy on his right nodding hesitantly.

The final ten minutes felt so long. Billy handed Marco the ball, making him run at full speed. He then brought the ball to Billy again, who did a front flip over a sliding body, which made the crowd do wild. When he feels the two strongest players come on opposites side of the field parallel to him, he passes the ball to No. 18.

"Go, Go, GO! We can do this!" Billy yelled.

What happened felt like the whole world went into slow motion. No. 18 sprints to the end; the goal feeling like it was twenty miles. He looks to his left and his right, and notices the players come after him; he slows down a little, to make sure they wouldn't stop when he takes off as fast as he could. When they finally came in arms length of him, he sprinted as fast as he could, and he knew they crashed into each other, because he heard them thump against each other, and they fell to the ground. No. 18 jogs over to the goal, and he drops the ball, making the last goal.

The crowd goes up in storm. The students had won. Billy does a war cry and picks up No. 18, and the team follows the leader. The students lined up and high fived the soldiers, who congratulated them on their game play.

Billy enters the locker room, wipes his face off and straps his boots on. As he walks out of the room, Mandy surprises him with a hug out of nowhere.

"Well, that was unexpected."

"You did it, Billy. You won!" Mandy shouts.

"You bet your ass I did. We beat those soldiers at their own game."

Billy picks up Mandy and swings her around, the twirl feeling like they were in a whirlwind. Mandy then kisses him on the cheek, in a sisterly way, and she congratulates him again.

"Thanks for being there at the bench for me." Billy says.

"No problem, Billy. Hey, you wanna go to that poker game now?"

Billy thinks about and shrugs his shoulders.

"Why not?"

The two walk with each other, Billy's arm over Mandy's shoulder. They walk out with each other and go through the gate, triumphant. One of the soldiers on the opposing team, the one he jumped over, taps him on the shoulder.

"Hey, kid."

"What's up?" Billy says.

The soldier gives him a thumbs up and says,

"Nice job, kid."

Billy only has a chance to give him thumbs up before he sees the stands in which everyone was coming out of go up in smoke and flames.


	20. The Puzzle

What had happened went by all so fast. For all Billy knew, he was still talking to that soldier, it wasn't until he opened his eyes he realized something was wrong. He began to hear the sound of muffled gunshots, soldiers screaming and yelling, students he knew following those orders, and sounds of helicopters were whirring.

"Billy…Billy, get up!" someone said.

Billy's ears picked up someone's voice. Slowly and slowly it became clearer, and he began to hear Mandy's voice.

"Billy, please! Get up!"

Billy shakes his head and gets on his hands and knees. His eyes begin to adjust and he sees eight ten-man squads of all armed with assault rifles and some had rocket launchers. They were wearing the U.S. Army's pin on their arms, a signal that the government had sent them in.

"Mandy, what's going on?" Billy asks.

"From what Eddy told me, they dropped off death squads to take the majority of us out and they're not just regular soldiers."

Billy looked at the soldiers, and he saw they were the best of the best, no wonder there were so little of them. Billy didn't waste anytime sprinting towards the locker room, realizing he left his jacket back there. As he runs towards the locker room, he notices Eddy coming down from the stand and throws him a gun, an AK-47. He grabs his shoulder and stops him.

"What are you doing?" He asks him.

"I need my jacket."

"What? Why do you need it? It's not like you need it to keep your ass warm."

"It's just a habit, okay? Now let go."

He shrugs off Eddy's hand, and sprints towards the room. Eddy shakes his head to get rid of the confusion and rallies Ed and Double D, who were watching the game with him down the stairs and they go and join the fight.

Billy gets his jacket and hurriedly puts it on. He goes back and checks on the fight, witnessing Male No. 18's death at one of the soldiers, being flipped over and stabbed in the chest. The scene provoked Billy's inner beast, and he sprints towards the soldier and tackles him. The two wrestle, Billy using what he learned playing football and rugby to subdue him. The soldier kicks Billy off of him, coming at him with his knife. Billy takes off the bayonet and waits for clash.

The blades hit each other and set off a spark, and the knife fight begins. Billy slashes forward; the soldier jumps back and comes back at him with a hammer strike. Billy narrowly dodges the strike by rolling towards the left, coming back at him with a strike to the back. The knife makes contact, and the soldier drops down, but he doesn't die. He finally finishes him with a slice of the neck. The blood coming from the wound almost makes Billy throw up, but he gets his resolve and calls out Mandy's name.

"Mandy, Mandy! Where are you?"

"I'm over here, behind the stand."

Billy looks behind him and sees Mandy returning fire to the soldiers, and he sprints over and climbs over the desk. He crawls over to Mandy, who ducks back down and reloads her gun.

"Mandy, are you okay?" Billy asks, concerned.

"I'm okay, really. Help me out, would ya?"

Billy gets up and fires, firing in all directions. Mandy gets up and does the same, best friends firing at the enemy. Mandy gets down and takes a break, catching her breath because of all of the fighting wearing her out. While she gets the handle of the situation, she begins to get confused.

"Billy?" Mandy calls.

Still firing away, Billy turns his head and looks at her.

"What's the matter?" Billy responds.

"Don't you think something's off?"

Billy considers her words, and ducks back down.

"I guess, why do you ask?"

"I mean, why do you think they would bring eight squads? Don't you think there's something wrong?"

Billy thinks to himself, and realizes that Mandy was right. They sent in soldiers the day before, but they were quickly decimated; now they're sending in some of the deadliest soldiers in, and already they killed a third of the people in the stands. Billy was to into the battle to put the pieces together, so instead he resolved to think when the battle was over.

Already, the battle was getting hotter, and the soldiers were getting situated into the battlefield, and the remaining students and soldiers were beginning to lose morale. Billy looked to Eddy, who had recently taken cover in the same stand they were in, and he nodded towards him, indicating he was ready to die. Eddy returned the nod, and the two boys stood up and got ready to die…

Just as the attack started, it ended just as fast. Billy looked toward the surviving soldiers, and noticed they were listening to someone over their radios. The soldiers quickly jumped the fence and sprinted into the woods. Billy jumps over the stand, followed by Eddy and Mandy, and the trio sprint towards the fence, aiming their guns through the mesh. Billy looks through, and the silence made them realize they were gone.

"What was that all about?" Eddy asked.

"I don't know…they were making it look like Columbine, except we're not students…not anymore."

"Well, we are." Mandy butts in.

"Well, you get the point."

The trios look back and see the ones who were still alive grieving over the loss, as soldiers began to get the dead and move the corpses to bury them. The soldier Billy killed stuck out and they hurry to the corpse before they move it.

"He's American, all right. The flag on his arm shows it."

"I know that, it's just the uniform, did they make a new battalion while we were here?"

"I don't know, this guy didn't seem meadow grass green…he's seen some combat."

"But, we haven't been to war after we pulled out of Iraq."

Something didn't seem right. Eddy signals Ed to come over here and he turns the body over, and points out something on his chest. Eddy looks closely, and the reaction on his face was like an atom bomb had been set off.

"Billy, I think you should look at this." Eddy says.

Billy gets on one knee and looks closely. The stitching on his coat said _**1**__**st**__** Squad, Battle Terminator**_. Billy thinks about the words 'battle terminator', and his face becomes like Eddy's. Billy freezes, going into shock. Mandy puts a hand on his shoulder, shaking him.

"Billy, what's the matter? Are you okay?"

Billy finally regains consciousness. His mind began to piece the puzzle together, and it made Billy feel like collapsing.

"Billy, can you hear me?"

Billy can only say these words before the whole group gets upset.

"They're toying with us…they're going to do something big…"


	21. The Bond

The battle was still fresh in his mind, and Billy was trying to make it go away. The threat of an all out attack was pushing at Billy, who began to smoke a cigarette to calm himself. The night sky was growing again, and Billy looked at his watch, the time being twelve thirty.

Billy's cigarette lit up the bunk room, the others all sound asleep. The only one not asleep was Mandy, but she was pretending by lying on her side. She listened to Billy talking to himself, feeling a small twinge of sympathy in her brain.

"You know, why fight? Sometimes, it's pointless."

_I know, Billy. You're not the only one_, Mandy thought to herself.

Billy blew smoke out of the window, but the wind moved it back into the room. It didn't bother the others though. Billy looked out of the window and looked out at the sky, the stars weren't as numerous as they were, and the moon wasn't as bright.

"I bet my parents forgot that I was even alive up there, if there even was Heaven."

Mandy's eyebrows raised a look of concern and sadness went across her face. She urged to move and hug Billy, but it would only make himself feel even worse, since she had told him about her curiosity, and he didn't want that to happen.

Billy closed his eyes and thought, holding his cigarette close to his leg, which was lying straight on the window sill. Billy thought of what had happened these two going on three days. He had lost the only family he was even close to him, his enemy and former friend had betrayed them, and he almost died too many times.

"I tell you, these motherfuckers don't even though what we through. We went through so much, I tell you we could have as many stories to tell as those guys at the old folks home."

Mandy couldn't take it anymore, and she turned around and rested her head on her hand.

"Billy, I could hear you." Mandy said.

"I know, I knew you were listening." Billy responded.

"Huh, how did you know?"

Billy raised an eyebrow and smirked, saying "I have a good grip when people are listening."

Mandy stood up and walked towards him, sitting on the night stand, wearing only her underwear and tank top. Billy took notice, and he turned red in the face and turned away.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Uh…you…you're…"

Mandy looked down and realized he was embarrassed that she was half-naked. She shook her head and touched his arm.

"Billy, it's not like I'm naked."

"I know, but it's weird seeing my best friend like this."

"Yeah, we're best friends…so why be embarrassed."

Billy eventually let up and his embarrassment faded away. The cigarette finally got down to the filter, and he put it out and threw it out the window. As he watches the butt fall, he looks away and puts his head in his hands.

"This game is fucked up….fucked up." Billy said.

"I know, I wish we weren't in it. I regret doing what I did now." Mandy said.

Billy felt a tear come down his cheek, and he immediately wipes it away. He looks at Mandy deeply, and Mandy looks back at him. Their eyes began to talk to each other, and Billy eventually came down from the window sill. In a fit of sadness, he lunges toward Mandy and firmly embraces her, and Mandy embraces him back.

"I…I'm…I'm sorry, Billy." Mandy says through sobs.

Billy begins to feel sorrow, too. Sorrow that the events that led up to this made Mandy willingly volunteer. He looked forward, his grip on her not wavering.

"Mandy, we've been through so much these last few days."

"Yeah…I know."

Billy let his grip go, but still kept his hands are her arms.

"Mandy, there's something I want to say to you."

"Yeah…what is it?"

Billy began to get red in the face again. He looked away hesitantly, but Mandy takes his face into her hand, and looks at him.

"Billy, you can tell me anything."

Billy swallowed his embarrassment, and he took a deep breath.

"I…I…I love you, Mandy."

Mandy began to get confused, and she looked away from him. Did he love her like someone would love a girlfriend, or the way she felt for him? Before she could say anything, Billy spoke up again.

"But, it's not like that. We've known each other for so long, we were always stuck together. You would show me the ropes of school and other things, and Grim would teach me about football and other shit…."

Mandy was still confused, but Billy put a finger to her lips and spoke again.

"Mandy….you're the only family I have. You're my sister now. You've always been my sister."

Mandy's confusion faded away, and a feeling of love began to grow stronger. The new family bond was mutual now, and they were the only family they had left. In an instant, Mandy leans in and kisses Billy on his lips, in a sisterly fashion, and they hold each other in the moonlight, Mandy sobbing into Billy's arm.

Billy steeled his face, determined again.

"Mandy, we're going to get out of here. Just watch."

"You promise we'll get out of here."

"I promise…on my life."

Mandy kisses Billy on the cheek and leans in on his ear.

"Thank you, Billy. You've been there for me every day ever since we met."

"No problem, Mandy. Why shouldn't I protect you?"

Mandy looks at Billy with a happy yet sad look in her eyes, and she gets up.

"Go back to bed, Mandy. I'll be going to sleep later."

"Alright…good night."

Mandy gets under the covers of the bed and immediately goes to sleep. Billy looks out the window, looking at the moon and getting his resolve back.

"Mandy, I should've said this to you straight."

Billy shuts the blinds and takes off his jacket and boots and jumps up on the top bunk of the bed.

"I'm not going _**us **_out of here…I'm getting _**you **_out of here. Even if it means dying…"


	22. The Plan

Eddy woke up with a start, springing out from his bed. The night before, the nightmares he suffered after his Program had come back for just this night. He looked at the clock; nine-thirty. Grudgingly, Eddy got out of bed and put his pants and shoes back on; he didn't even bother to put his shirt on. He looks towards Double D, who was sleeping in the corner, his bed adjacent to the wall and looked at Ed through a hole in the ground, used to give each other stuff through the hole i.e. alcohol, movies, porn, etc.

"Hey, Lumpy! Wake up, monobrow!" Eddy shouted.

"Ah!" Ed shouted.

Ed sprang from his bed; the sound of his scream echoed through the rooms, and it woke Double D up with a startle. Eddy laughed and held his stomach, while Double D grudgingly sat up in bed.

"Eddy, could you at least be a little polite when it comes to waking up Ed, please?" he asked.

"Hey, we're at war, I need to have a good laugh once in a while or I'll become one of those guys with that post traumatic stress shit or something."

Double D shakes his head, and straightens his hat and gets out of bed, getting a suit and lab coat on, getting ready for the school day.

"Will you ever get a substitute or something? You need to take a break once in a while." Eddy said.

"I would, but I'm the only teacher in this compound, and who would be able to teach these kids? All they know is war."

"Yeah, war is what we know so let's teach them how to end it."

"No, Eddy. You know what'll happen if we do that."

Eddy smirked and looked down at Ed, who went right back to sleep. Eddy grunted in frustration and shouted again.

"Ed, wake up the aliens are coming!"

Ed shouted again, this time the shout echoed through the whole building, and he sprang up from his bed again, getting dressed in a hurry. Eddy laughed again, seeing how Ed was so prepared to fight again.

"Ed, I was kidding! Let's go get so-"

A call came through the ham radio in the room. It was coming from the outside.

"To all terrorists and students…" The radio said.

Eddy jumped from his position, and sat at the desk where the ham radio was sitting.

"This is a message from the government. Since you hadn't ceased your attacks on our fair land, we are going to launch a final and hard attack on your position. To the students who are listening, we know you are siding with the terrorists. Be prepared for this attack and death to you all…"

Eddy shot up and sounded the alarm in his room, and the blare echoed everywhere.

…

The blaring of the siren woke Billy up with a start, and he almost fell from his bed. He pulled on his pants and jacket and shook Mandy's shoulder.

"Mandy, wake up! An alarm's sounding off."

Mandy didn't waste anytime getting up and she immediately got dressed and ran out with Billy. They jumped over the rail and landed on the floor, Billy landing on one foot. They were being directed through to where they were to go. What it led to was the former mayor's office now turned into a tactics base.

"I'm glad you all made it, including the students still alive." Eddy nodded towards the students.

"What's the matter?" One boy said.

"I got a call from the ham radio. It was from the government."

"Don't tell me…it was a call for us to stop what we're doing, huh?"

"No…it's way different."

The room went silent and they all leaned in. Eddy gripped the desk tightly and looked down at the desk.

"They're going to launch another attack…this time it's sure to beat us."

The room seemed to spin; the shock through the room began to fester in the air.

"What do you mean?" Billy asked.

"They're going to send a shit storm towards us, that's what I gather."

"You think they might send some tanks our way?" One soldier asked.

"I don't know, but they might send out some of their infantry…but it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we need to prepare for the worst but pray for the best, you know?"

Some of the soldiers nodded and some were still in shock, an it took some of them some time before they came back.

"Well, since there are twenty four of you guys over there left," Eddy pointed out. "It gives us an edge. We'll have more soldiers to fight on our side, but not by much."

"But, who knows?" Marco pointed out. "Half of us could be blown out in the attack."

"That might happen, that might not. But what we do know is that some of you guys had enough experience fighting that you could help us. Now, just help us out truly for once, will you?"

Some of the students raised an eyebrow at the remark, but Eddy chuckles at what he said and waves his hand forward, indicating to forget about it.

"Anyway, we don't know when and where they're going to make the assault. But, when it happens we'll be able to fight back, right."

"Right!" Everyone says.

"Alright, we got it all. I just hope Double D has a bible scripture to give you guys, I doubt it though. We ran out days ago."

The soldiers laugh nervously, while the students were looking at each other in fear. Any day and any hour they could get decimated, some students nodded to each other to say goodbye, and Marco went and held his sister. Billy and Mandy looked at each other and held each other firmly.

"If we die tomorrow or somehow today, I'm glad that you're with me." Billy says.

"Yeah…me too." Mandy responds.

Billy didn't want to let her go, but he had to so he didn't smother her. Mandy looks at him then back at the group, moving her hair with her hand out of her eyes.

"Well, let's just cross our hearts and hope to—uh…yeah." Ed says.

"Ed, let's sure you don't die, okay? Or anyone for that matter…"

Ed nods his head agreeing, and he leans back and takes a stick of gum and begins to chew it.

"As for me…anyone who wants to join me can see me in the film room."

The soldiers looked at each other, while the students sat back confused.

"What are you going to do, Eddy?" one soldier asked.

"I'm going to give that president bastard one more message."

And like that, Eddy walks out of the room, while some of the soldiers hesitantly follow behind.


	23. The Confession

The room becomes full of soldiers. Ever since the signal went down, they were in a panic over what they were supposed to do. Mr. McIntosh had stopped crying hours ago, checking around at the soldier's progress.

"How's the work going, Mac?" Mr. McIntosh asks one soldier.

"Pretty good so far. We haven't been able to get the signal back up again, but we should be able to get the kids back on our screen."

"Hope so, let's make sure those kids not leave our sight."

Mr. McIntosh looks longingly at the screen, hoping for the kids. The kids were all he had left, after his son was killed on one of their programs. Ever since he had died, he had looked toward those kids and saw them as his 'children', so he treated like he would his son but kept it professional so they wouldn't notice. Some of them did, some of them didn't, but it didn't matter. The stunt he pulled four days ago didn't escape his mind, and it taunted him and his gut began to wrench inside his stomach.

Before he could throw up, the screen in the middle of the room came on. The screen had the resistance flag and name in the shot, and the name 'The New Home Army' was written in the flag. On screen came the leader, Eddy McGee.

"What is freedom without war? What is war without peace?" Eddy began. "All of these years we have been alive, even though we thought there was peace, there was none. All of those years we thought this damn Program was teaching us a lesson, it wasn't. All it was doing was scaring us into making us believe in their system. I, for one, have witnessed the horror of this 'game' the adults who made us forced us into. I was the winner of Last year's game, and five of us came out alive. This whole year we've been doing nothing but showing the adults who made us do this shit see what we're capable of. You adults who forced Endsville's 9th grade class into fighting us, that was low even for you. To the adults watching this, in every corner of the world, I say you stand up and fight with us, we could be your kids, your sons, your daughters, cousins, nephews, friends, anything. Stand up and fight with us. And to the forsaken children out there, I suggest you do the same. We will rise and we'll make sure that the world our kids live in doesn't have this program. And to the adults who forsaken _us_, I have a few words to say to you….We'll never forgive you for what _you _have done. Eddy McGee of the New Home Army."

And just like that, the signal went dark….

…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of bombs hitting the town came from everywhere. It shook the building and everyone in it, and the alarm quickly sounded, and soldiers went into action.

Billy was smoking a cigarette when the bombs hit. Knocked unconscious from the blast, Billy woke up under a pile of rubble, but his blurred vision made him believe he was somewhere else. When he finally regained his vision back, he noticed Mindy lying next to him. She was sitting next to him, complaining about her looks, but the instant next, she was somber.

"Mindy, are you okay?" Billy asks.

"I'm fine…thank you." Mindy responds.

Billy noticed she was just as trapped as he was. He tried to move, but he could ever so slightly, and his arms moved only a little bit.

"What happened?"

"These bombs came out of nowhere and struck us."

"Who did it?" Billy asks.

"I don't know…and I don't really care now."

Billy became worried, even though she was the biggest brat in the school, or maybe the world. Her tone of voice wasn't as snooty anymore, and she didn't sound uptight anymore.

"Do you know why I act the way I act?" Mindy asks.

Billy shakes his head, getting more worried and confused.

"It was because I always wanted to get noticed. Sure I was a little bit richer than most of you guys, but that's not something to brag about. I only wanted someone to notice. I guess it wasn't a good plan, huh?"

"Yeah…kind of." Billy says.

Mindy moves her head so she looks up, and she giggles a little bit.

"It's funny; I always wanted to talk to you, like for real. But, when I do, it's in here."

"What are you getting at?"

Mindy looks at him, her eyes wide and glowing, and it looked like tears were about to come through.

"I…always sort of liked you. Although, my attitude got in the way of it. Sorry I made you hit me that one time, I couldn't control myself…"

Billy became confused, and he tried to move closer.

"Me? Why do you like me?"

Mindy has to catch her breath before she could get her sentence again.

"You…you were like a knight. You always protected your friends, and if they betrayed you, you could never forgive them. You're also pretty muscular, and that gets to me…but it's just the way you act…all goofy and not caring, it made me realize how much I act. And it showed me how to be myself, when I could never be."

"What?"

Mindy begins to get pale in the face. Her lips became blue and she was gasping for air. Billy looks down and sees a piece of iron sticking out of her abdomen, she was bleeding out fast.

"Billy?"

Billy looks towards Mindy, who looked like on the verge of dying.

"I-I n-never told a-anyone t-this b-but…I….I…"

Billy sees her mouth the words _I love you_, and she succumbs to her injuries.

"Mindy!" Billy yells, demandingly as if she was pulling some sort of prank.

The place he was buried in suddenly became brighter and he was pulled by hands up from the wreckage. When he turns around, he notices Mandy and some of the others behind him.

"Where's everyone?" Billy demands.

"Billy, they're all dead. From Students 3 to 13. Then there's No. 15's partner, and no. 18's partner. There should be thirteen of us now."

Billy looks back at the rubble, and Mandy notices something suspicious about the group. There should be thirteen, when there're twelve.

"Billy" Mandy asks. "Where's Mindy?"

Billy points to the rubble, but warns the students not to go in.

"Why, what's the matter?" Marco asks.

"Well…she's dead. Is there anything I need to explain?"

Marco shakes his head. The fact that someone he knew died again began to eat at him. It ate and ate until he was sure he had lost his sanity. It wasn't before somebody called that it brought him back to reality.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Eddy says.

The students look back to see Eddy, who stood there with an AK-74u in one hand, and his black bandana waving. He looked like somebody from a video game.

"They're going to send the cavalry in soon. I suggest we get back in."

The students follow Eddy in, and Billy stays behind and looks back at the rubble behind him. The scene was forever engraved into his mind, the blood and the girl he always hated confessing her love for him, albeit in silence. Billy shakes his head and goes inside, looking back for a little bit, his mind swollen with grief.

_**Author's note:** Sorry for the short chapters, I need something to make the story longer. Expect more stuff and leave a review. Thanks._


	24. The Unbroken Bond

The bombing ended an hour ago, yet some of the fire still didn't die down. Half of the town was in ruins, some of the rubble still crumbling from different buildings. The whole ordeal shook the students and most of the soldiers, indicating there should be something done.

Billy went outside and smoked a cigarette. Eddy came after him, smoking from the pipe he had been given in the previous Game. He observed the landscape, fires still burning and the scene was apocalyptic.

"I can't believe after all this, we still get pushed down." Eddy says.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to get the situation into my head." Billy responds.

The tip of the cigarette burned brightly, and the smoke became thicker and mistier combining with the smoke from the fires. Eddy looks at Billy and observes him, seeing nothing but a soldier lost to the combat.

"You know, I wish this would've ended long ago."

"What do you mean?" Billy asks, raising an eyebrow.

Eddy lets the smoke free from his lungs and stares coldly away.

"I think I was fighting the government way before my group started fighting. Ever since my Game ended, I thought of ways to get back at the government for what they did."

Eddy takes out a photo from his pocket and passes it to Billy. He takes the photo and observes it, seeing a tan kid with a big head and his hair was cut short in a buzz cut.

"That's Johnny. We were friends at school. We dressed alike; we even liked the same music. But, we didn't consider each other brothers. Sure we were best friends, but there was so many similarities between us, calling each other brothers would've been redundant."

Billy looks at Eddy, who had his head between his legs, trying to conceal his emotions.

"What happened to him?" Billy asks.

Eddy catches his breath and lets out a sigh. He didn't want to tell Billy, but it ate at him to not tell someone about him. Besides, he remembered the promise he made to Johnny that day.

"He…he…" Eddy stammers.

"Come on, spit it out."

"He…was killed. Well, it's like this…"

Eddy began the story. The five of them, Eddy Double D Nazz Ed and Johnny were hiding out for most of the game. Almost all of the kids were dead, except the most dangerous of the students. Their names were Alistair and Anastasia. Both were stone cold. For Alistair, that was an understatement. He didn't understand what it meant to be cold because he didn't have any emotions. No one saw him smile or do anything. When he would get really mad was when someone would cut his face. But, a hit to the head made him truly emotionless. As for Anastasia, she believed that sex could fix anything. She ran a small gang, and they went to war with every clique at school, including Eddy's. She was basically in love with Alistair, mostly because of his bad-boy style.

They were both skilled martial artists, as they could've taken you down in a single glance. So when they teamed up, everyone was scared. They hijacked a van and they took off, with the match made in hell in hot pursuit. Johnny eventually took the wheel, and they went to a Cliffside and waited. What happened next would haunt Eddy's nightmares forever.

Johnny told him of his plan, and indirectly said goodbye to the group. Alistair and Anastasia crashed into him, and Alistair was the only survivor of the crash. Johnny went sailing over the edge and died in the explosion when the cars hit the ground.

"Damn, I'm sorry I brought it up." Billy says.

"Nah, it's my fault. There's no way you should apologize."

Billy cocks one eyebrow and goes back to his cigarette, which was a quarter of the way done. Billy looks out and straightens his jacket, getting up and stretching his legs.

"I think we should end this war once and for all, don't you think?" Eddy says.

"Yeah, I guess…wait, what?"

Eddy looks down at Billy, who in turn gives him a confused look.

"Oh, I meant I think we should move. Did I say something else?" he says.

"Yeah, you did. You got me scared for a minute."

"Well, I think we should end the war, but I think something should change here."

He takes Billy's hand and picks him up. And he looks into his eyes, and reveals his plan.

"I want you guys to get out of here." Eddy says, straight forward.

"What?"

"Billy, I want you guys to leave and not come back here."

Billy becomes confused again, and he takes his hand away and turns around. He walks three steps away from him and takes a big hit of the cigarette.

"Billy, listen to me." Eddy says.

"Why? All I'm hearing is you planning on throwing your life away. You're what, a year older than me, sixteen or seventeen? You have much more life ahead of you!"

"No I don't, Billy." Eddy says.

Billy gets enough of his talking and pushes Eddy against a pillar. His eyes are filled with anger and questioning, but Eddy's face just keeps at its emotionless state.

"Why are you talking like that? You sound like you're one hundred years old. You are the same age as me, so why complain you don't have any life left in you?"

"If you went through as much as I did, you'd understand."

Getting angrier, Billy begins shouting.

"I have been going through as much as you have! Do you think I haven't lost my friends? Do you think I'm nothing but a regular kid while you think you should die now! You aren't listening to yourself. Deep down I think you want to go back to who you once were. Well, you're not going to get there talking like that."

The words penetrated Eddy like a knife. He finally thought about his words, and they all sounded alien to him. He did want to go back to scrounging for money off people, and he did want to go back to fighting against the adults in _school_, not here. He wanted to go home…he wanted to go home.

Eddy shakes his head and looks toward Billy, who let's go of his grip on him. He takes Billy's hand and holds it in front of them.

"You're right, Billy. I do sound like a complete douche bag." Eddy says.

Billy takes his words in and processes them, and he nods his head and makes a determined face and smile.

"I used to fight against the adults at my school. I always felt it should come to this. But, since it has, I miss getting on their nerves. I miss scamming people for their money, and I miss the jawbreakers at home. You know what? I'm seeing this to the end, and the end will be at home."

The two boys walk inside, and they discuss what was going to happen next.

…5:00 p.m. next morning.

The remaining students stood fully dressed in their combat fatigues, some missing their helmets. Billy leads the group, holding his battle issued M-16, and he looks towards Eddy, who stood in front of him with his AK-74u.

"You sure you're going to stay behind?" Billy asks.

"Don't worry; I'm going to make it." Eddy responds.

"You sure?"

Eddy shakes his head and puts his hand on his shoulder, and shakes it.

"Yo, we've been through this much, what makes you say I'm not going to live through this."

Billy puts his hand on Eddy's shoulder, and shakes it.

"We'll meet you in London?" Billy asks.

"That's what I heard, now get out of here, would ya?"

Billy shakes his head and pauses for a bit. In another second, he runs down the hall, with the others leading behind. The last person to leave was Sarah, who stood behind.

"Jonathan….brother…" Sarah says, insisting he come with.

Jonathan only keeps his position staring out of the window, trying to ignore his baby sister. She walks a few steps forward, realizing that it would be in vain.

"I…I'll never forget you." She says, and she runs to catch up with the others.

Sarah's words hit Jonathan at a hundred miles an hour and he can't help but feel a tear go down his cheek. He turns around and shoots out a hand, but can't bring himself to call for his sister, as she is too far gone.

Outside, the soldiers await their positions and see the enemy coming through the gates.

"Position A, are you ready?" Eddy says through a walkie-talkie.

"Position A, ready for war, over."

"Position B, are you ready?"

"Loud and clear and ready to die."

"Everyone else, are you ready?"

"Copy that, sir. We're all locked and loaded."

Eddy looks out the window and uses his hand signals to get the others ready.

"Hold on, not yet…"

The soldiers become numerous and begin to take position behind all of the rubble left behind during the carpet bombing.

"Ready…keep hold."

The soldiers begin to wait for the bullets to fly at any minute.

"NOW! OPEN FIRE!"

…

Meanwhile, Billy falls behind the group. His face tightens up and his eyes shut and he looks behind him.

"What's the matter?" Mandy asks.

"I don't know…something's holding me back."

"Well, you can't be held back now, we got to go." No. 15 says.

Billy looks down and at his side and immediately scuffles his hair and Mandy knew what he was up to. When he would scuffle his hair, that meant he would fight someone or beat somebody up.

"Billy, please don't." Mandy pleads.

"But, I have to. It won't leave me alone?"

"What's Billy saying?" Marco says.

Billy looks up with a hardened look, and he cocks his gun to clear the chamber.

"I'm going back…I just can't leave them there."

_**Author's note:** What's going to happen? Will Billy die or will he live? Will he doom the group or will he save them? Find out next time!_


	25. The Unpayable Debt

"Billy, please! Don't do this!" Mandy pleaded.

Billy looked back at where they came from, and the gunfire became more and more distant in Billy's mind. The thought of leaving them behind while they went back home couldn't pass through his mind. He had made friends back there and it made him feel selfish that he was leaving them behind.

"Mandy, I can't just leave them. Remember that vow we made that we would get each other out alive?"

Mandy nods her head and begins to fear for the worst.

"I must've jumbled up my words or something. I didn't mean I was going to get us out…"

"Billy, please."

"I meant I was going to get _**you **_out of here. Even if it meant dying."

"Billy, you're not acting right. Don't be stupid." Said No. 15.

"If anyone's brave or stupid enough to go with me, step up."

Out of nowhere, Marco steps out from the crowd.

"I'm going with you, bro." he says.

"Marco, please don't do this." Amie cried.

"Amie, go and live your life. You're so smart, but all I know was sports. I could never get a real job."

"Marco, please don't go!" Amie began to cry.

"I'll always love you, Amie."

Marco steps up and joins Billy, patting him on the back.

"Anyone else?" Billy asks.

When it felt like nobody else would step out, Mandy steps out.

"If you go, Billy. I'm going."

Billy becomes shocked; the girl he was trying to save was going to seemingly die with him. He began to protest.

"Mandy, no. You're not coming."

Mandy still walked up to the group, ready for battle. Billy instantly grips her shoulders and begins to talk.

"Mandy, I'm doing this for you. Do you just want to throw it away for me?"

"Billy, why are you complaining?" she asks.

"Did I just not tell you or something? I've been busting my ass so you can go out alive. If you go with me and you die, it'll all be in vain."

"Well, I've been busting _**my **_ass getting you killed."

Billy began to get irritated.

"Mandy, just go. I just want you to go home and have a nice life, okay?"

Mandy finally gets fed up and burst out.

"I can't have a nice life without you, okay?"

Billy became shocked, as this was one of the only outbursts that she ever had with him ever since they were little. Things began to get real.

"All of this program I've been putting us in situations where if we came back alive it'd be like coming back from the dead! I've been killing all of you; I even killed Nergal, even though it doesn't look like it! All you've been doing is protecting me and keeping me alive and sane. I can never repay you for all of you've been doing, but no one said I could try!"

Mandy's eyes began to brim with tears. Billy's face is a mixture of confusion and shock. He never realized how much she affected her life.

"You've been my driving force. You've always been my best friend and my idol. Now, when I can finally make amends for what I did, is this how I do it, by fighting with you?"

Billy lets his hands free and they drop to his side, his gun dangling from the strap. Billy then takes Mandy in his arms, although she begins to resist. Eventually, she ends up taking the hug and she cries into his shoulder.

"Alright, if that's how much you want to repay me, you can go with us."

Mandy doesn't want to leave his vice, but she eventually lets him go. She wipes the tears away from her cheeks and checks for anyone who wants to go.

"Alright, that's everyone. Let's go." Billy says.

The trio begin to turn around and sprint, but Marco stops them and begins to say something.

"Sarah!" Marco points out.

Sarah steps from the crowd.

"I've always sort of liked you."

Sarah begins to blush. Why would he have a crush on her? He was a jock and she was one of the outcasts.

"And No. 15, keep my sister alright, okay?"

"Okay, will do. And my name is James."

Marco nods his head and catches up with the trio, seeming to run towards their deaths.

…

"We're not going to make it!" One soldier yells.

"Shut your ass, and fight! We'll do it!" Eddy yells back.

The soldiers keep on fighting from the tower, the bravest or the closest ones fighting face to face with the soldiers. Eddy was fighting on the makeshift ridge in front of the building, and he was quickly running out of ammo. He began to resort to single shot fire.

"There's too many of them. We need more soldiers!"

"Well, can you make two of you if I slice you in half? I thought not! Just use your ammo wisely."

Ed was picking them off from close range with his shotgun. He was the most feared from the whole army. Being careful not to get shot from both sides, he quickly shoots in front, each side and back behind him.

"Ed, be careful down there!" Double D shouted down.

"Aw shucks, Double D. I didn't think you would come with us!" Ed shouted back.

"Do I have a choice? Just be careful."

After a while, more soldiers came onto the scene, and all hope seemed lost. Eddy began to use his pistol and that was running out of ammo, and Ed was almost killed with a bullet wound to the shoulder. Morale became low, and Eddy seemed sure he was going to die.

"Guys!" He shouts.

Still fighting, the others listen in.

"It's been a pleasure fighting with you guys."

The others stopped shooting and took cover, some prayed to god, others closed their eyes ready to die.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" a voice says.

The soldiers turn around and notice three kids coming from the escape tunnel. It was Billy Mandy and Marco, who have returned to save them.


	26. The Shock of the Battle

Billy lunges towards a boulder from a statue and takes cover. Just in time, though, because a soldier shoots a rocket at them. The rocket barely misses its target, instead blowing up a tower from the bottom up. One soldier screams as he falls to his death.

Mandy does a baseball slide onto a pile of rubble, getting horrified when she sees a hand sticking out from the pile. She immediately stands up and fires to get her mind away from the sight. She immediately takes down three soldiers, immediately getting down, trying her best to keep her eyes away from the sight.

Eddy looks down and notices the trio and immediately gets irritated.

"I told you to get out of here!" Eddy shouts over gunfire.

"I couldn't do it. We're friends, right? We look out for each other!" Billy responds.

Eddy shakes his head and begins to shoot. After fifteen shots, he's out of ammo.

"You got any ammo on you?" Eddy asks.

Billy smirks and throws up a magazine that was found by a dead soldier.

"Thanks a lot. I owe you a drink if we get out of here alive." Eddy says.

"What for? All I did was just give you a magazine." Billy responds.

"Yeah, but it might just save my ass."

Billy lifts an eyebrow and gets back to fighting. He watches as Marco side flips over a metal bar and takes out his knife. Guess those sports finally kicked in, he thinks to himself. Marco immediately jumps up and comes down with the knife into an enemy soldier's neck, instantly killing him. He then pulls out his pistol and begins shooting from a crater where a grenade had hit.

"I'm glad we're together this time for real." Marco shouts at a soldier.

The battle was only just beginning. From the way it looks more soldiers were coming in, and thanks to the carpet bombing and the surprise attack a while back, half of them were decimated. The soldiers began to get cocky, and immediately began to rush forward. In an instant, the enemy armies clashed child versus adult, and maybe a few fathers versus their sons.

Mandy didn't notice anyone was in her blind spot, and she was immediately pounced on by one of the soldiers. Immediately, a struggle ensues, and the two wrestle. She takes note of the soldier's face, seeing his dark glasses, and he had crooked teeth and her nose was hooked. The name on his jacket read _**Sgt. McJames. **_

Mandy looks down and sees his hand on her vest where her breast should be. She looks at him and notices him licking his lips, and a wicked smile came over his face.

"I've always wanted to get with one of you guys. And if we do it on a battle field, it'll be twice as fun…ha-ha-ha."

"No, get off of me you sick fuck!" Mandy shouts and she spits in his face.

"Ooh…we got a fighter, I like that!"

The soldier begins to drop down and begins unbuckling her belt. She kicks with all her might, but he's too strong and he punches her in the face. In a second, he's down to her pants button, and he zips it down. Now he's down to her underwear, and he begins to pull them down…

"NO!" Someone shouts.

Mandy opens her tightly shut eyes and notices Billy jumping over her. He tackles the soldier, and gives her time to get her clothes back on. Billy and the soldier begin to fight, and Mandy tries her best to get into the fight, but she gets too distracted by the gunfire to get back in.

"Did you think for a second no one was going to notice you raping her, you fucker!" Billy shouts.

"Is that what you can do? I'm older, even stronger. What can you d-" The soldier says.

He looks down and sees a knife where his penis would be. The pain is searing, and he begins to scream. Billy then takes his pants off, and with a gloved hand, grabs his testicles and rips them off.

"You were going to take away the only person I ever loved. Now, I'm going to make you pay."

The soldier begins gasping for air, and he begins to beg for mercy. Billy's face didn't flinch as he drives his knife into his stomach and pushes it to the right. The properties of his insides began to spew out, and he begins to scream again. Billy finally then came down and stabs him in his gaping mouth. The soldier begins to choke.

"I'm going to walk away now watch you choke on your own blood, you pig."

Billy walks away and re-joins the fight. The soldier begins to look at him through his glasses, his vision fading. After what was felt for hours, he finally chokes on his own blood and dies. Mandy looks at him in amazement, sure he cared about her, but was that how far he was willing to go to protect her?

The fight begins to get more intense and more hazardous. They were right, and they saw more soldiers joining the fight.

"Keep on fighting! NO surrendering, people!" Eddy shouts.

"I'm with you, Eddy. We'll stand together!" Billy shouts.

They look at each other and nod, finally feeling their bond becoming stronger and it became solid, finally forming a friendship and a brotherhood. From that moment on, Billy felt like a true soldier.

All of a sudden, a helicopter flies through and the sound of a mini-gun became apparent. Marco looks and sees one ally becoming cut in half, his rocket launcher falling to the ground. What Marco had witnessed woke the inner beast inside him, and he yells a war cry and grabs the rocket launcher and fires at the helicopter. In one instant, the helicopter goes down in fire and flames, and the explosion made the earth jump.

"Good job, kid. They're beginning to get less brave because of that." One soldier says.

Marco's breath didn't waver, and he immediately launches another rocket at the enemy coming forward. The blast sends a few of them rocketing into the sky, and they came down to the ground with a thud.

"They're coming in fast, like ants! Fall back!" Eddy shouts.

They all fall back, and some stay, including Mandy, behind to fight them off. Billy rushes into the gaping hole of the building, and immediately looks back to his horror to see Mandy back behind him.

"Mandy, get back here!" Billy shouts.

"What? I can't hear you!" Mandy shouts back.

"I said come back here! You don't have to do this to pay me back, please come here!"

Mandy doesn't stop firing away, and her gun immediately runs out of ammo. Billy tries again to get her to come back.

"Mandy, please get back here! Don't do this!"

Mandy hears him this time; she looks back, carefully keeping behind cover. She gives him a look, asking are you sure. Billy nods his head, telling her to come by waving his hand backwards.

Mandy stands up and immediately runs towards him, moving this way and that to make sure she doesn't get hit.

"That's it, you can make it!"

Just as soon as she is in arms reach of him, he watches in horror as she falls forwards, a gunshot ringing through his ear.


	27. The Final Stand

"NO!"

Mandy tumbles forward, letting out a sharp scream of pain. Billy, still shocked from the shot, falls down towards her to check on her. Miraculously, the bullet didn't go through her, but from her scream, she was in definite pain.

"Mandy, are you okay?" Billy asks, worried.

"I…I'm alright."

"Get her vest off, and then take off her jacket. The bullet might've not entered her, but she could have major trauma or something." Says Double D from the top floor of the building.

Billy does as he is told, and Mandy does without resistance. The bullet made a mark on her, and it bled for sure. But, she might've cracked some ribs or maybe something else had happened, because Mandy was still in much pain. Billy's rage didn't get higher than it had ever been in the game at all.

In another fit of rage, Billy takes his gun and goes back into the fight. He really did see red, because his face was as red as his sight. Each enemy was his own and no one else, and he felt he was the only soldier on the battlefield. Billy began mowing down the soldiers, picking up a light machine gun from a pile left behind in the rubble. Billy began walking and shooting, and he began to black out.

Billy began to fall down in a void or a pit, but he was lost to his rage. He only became like this after a group of bullies began to beat tried to beat him up, they began to push him around in a circle and spat insults at him. When he came back out of his rage, they were on the ground and they were either crying or they were on the verge of passing out. It was a miracle he never get caught.

"I got too mad again. Not surprising anymore." Billy says into the void.

Billy's face was blank, and even though he was falling he didn't feel gravity pull at him. He then began hearing people call his name, but it didn't bother him.

"Why can't they leave me alone?" he asked to himself.

"Billy…Billy…Billy, wake up!"

The voices became clearer and he began to recognize them all.

"Eddy…Eddy, where are you?" He called.

The voice became clearer, and the gunfire became louder.

"Billy, get out of there!" the voice yelled.

In a flash, Billy was back into his body. When he finally came to, he was in the middle of the battlefield, and looking back was a trail of bodies. Did he really kill all of those people? He looks around, dazed and confused, and sees the building behind him. He runs towards it, hoping he can get sense of what was going on.

When he finally gets there, he sees Mandy being loaded onto a stretcher, and Eddy's standing behind a wall, firing into the soldiers.

"What happened? I can't remember a thing!" Billy asks.

"You got too angry and blacked out. Geez, you were yelling like you were a monkey on steroids!"

Billy looks back at the bodies and feels like he's about to break down. When he finally gets back again, he asks Eddy another question.

"Did…did I kill all of those people?"

Eddy looks back at him and shakes his head.

"Nah…I'd say you killed about a third of them. Don't get too upset though. We still need you."

Billy ducks his head just in time for a bullet to narrowly miss him. He finds his M-16 and ducks behind a wall at the other side of the building, shooting back at the enemy.

"Eddy, this isn't good. We need more soldiers!" Ed yells from a tower.

"Well, we won't hold the fort for long anyways. We need to get out of here!" Eddy yells back.

"Well, we need to think of something fast." Double D joins in.

Eddy and Billy look at each other, and they retreat into the building for a plan. They jump over a table and pull it down, and they rest for a little bit.

"This isn't going to work. You're right; we need to get out of here." Billy says.

"Well, we have too many people to evacuate, those including you and me. We won't be able to get everyone out in one piece."

Billy looks up and sees the soldiers moving into the building. They were coming in one by one, soldier by soldier, the unlucky ones meeting the end of Ed's shotgun.

"I think I know what to do now." Eddy says, and he grabs a walkie-talkie from a chair, left behind by another soldier.

"Guys, can you hear me?" Eddy says.

"Loud and clear, what's the plan?" one soldier says through the mic.

"Well, here it is. Meet me out by the helipad. Let's regroup there."

"Do you mean we're going to evacuate?" Ed says.

"Yeah…we are, but not yet. If Squad B is alive and well, I need them to secure some C4 at the weakest points in the building, if you're up for the job?"

"Copy that, Eddy we're good to go and we're ready for action." Squad B leader says.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. Anyway, everyone else, go get to the choppers."

Eddy takes off running, while Billy follows behind.

…

Eventually, they all got to the helipad, right outside of the building on the left. They all stood while some gunfire was still being heard, but it was deafening.

"What do we do now?" Ed says.

Eddy looks towards Billy, who looks towards Mandy, unconscious and lying on a stretcher.

"Well, we've got the fort packed for now. I'd say it's time to move."

"I'd say so, too." Billy responds.

The others whoop and cheer, some of them impatiently waiting to get into the helicopters or maybe boats. Eddy and Billy stood solemnly, and they attract attention.

"Eddy, Billy what's the matter?" Ed says.

Billy looks at Ed, who looks at him with a confused look.

"Just get in the helicopter, Ed. We'll explain everything later, right?" Billy says, looking towards Eddy.

Eddy looks back, "Yeah, we will."

It takes a while but everyone in situated into their respective vehicles. Squad B gets out of the building just in time, with one soldier missing.

"Where's the other guy?" Eddy asks.

"Went down fighting, he's a hero, damn it."

"Alright, alright don't get Harrison Ford on us, okay? Just get in."

The squad gets into the nearest boat, beginning to set sail. Billy jumps out of his helicopter and joins Eddy, who goes to the B squad boat and asks for the detonator.

"Why do you need it?" the leader asks.

"I just want to be the one who let's the fireworks go off. Now give me it."

The leader hesitates for a moment, but finally gives it up.

"Now, do you guys have the other student's positions monitored?" Eddy asks.

One pilot checks his map and points out where the other students were at on the map. They were heading East, out into the Atlantic Ocean.

"They're heading into the Atlantic Ocean, sir. Why do you ask?"

"It's going to be a long trip to Iceland then. Well, just follow them and get a hold of them. We'll meet you later."

The groups become shocked, their only leader staying behind to possibly die in that battle. One person objects, and it was No. 15, or James.

"Billy, don't do this! You've got so much life ahead of you!"

"I know, which is why I'll stay here and keep you guys alive."

"Billy, please!"

Billy turns around and looks away.

"Don't do this to me. You're only making it harder." Billy shouts.

Seeing no way out of this, James jumps out of the boat and goes up to Billy. He takes his hand and puts something into it.

"It's my picture album. I know it looks like one of those old hand held clocks that you put in your pocket, but it has all of our pictures in it from eighth grade."

Billy looks at the locket and begins to scan through them, seeing all of the pictures of their class.

"I'll never forget you, Billy. Just remember that."

The helicopters fly off and the boats jet into the ocean, leaving Billy and Eddy behind.

…

The boys jump into the building, making sure they buy some time for the others to escape.

"Well, we might die, but at least there are two of us that'll show we're not with them." Billy says.

"Make that three." Someone says.

Eddy and Billy turn around, and see Mr. McIntosh, holding a football in his hand but wearing a military dress uniform, except he wasn't wearing a beret.

"What do you want?" Billy shouts.

"Well, I wanted to see you one last time." Mr. McIntosh says.

"You know this guy?" Eddy asks him.

"Of course, I do. He was my science teacher."

The three sit there in silence for what seems like hours, until Mr. McIntosh speaks up.

"You know, I lost my son to these games. He was my only family left on this earth. So, if you didn't notice already, you guys were like my second family. The other classes didn't connect with me as much, but I was sure you guys would make it in the world. That stunt I pulled with killing Sperg, I apologize for. Although, you could never forgive me, I just hope you could at least try, because you see…"

Mr. McIntosh pulls his collar down, revealing he was playing the game, too. They forced him into playing, just like them. Billy and Eddy stood there shocked.

"They were forcing me to do it. I never wanted to harm you guys at all. It was just a vicious cycle that everyone forced us into."

Billy and Eddy stood there in silence, and Mr. McIntosh reveals the football he was carrying on his hip.

"I…always wanted to play football with you guys. So, what do you say? Can you give an old man another chance?"

Billy looks at Eddy, who gives him a shrug saying why not.

"Okay, I guess. But, don't pull anything!"

"I promise, I won't." Mr. McIntosh says.

Mr. McIntosh walks and gets into a stance, ready to run into battle, the football still in his hands. He then puts the football down on the floor, and pats Billy on the back.

"Are you ready?" Billy asks.

He looks at both of them, who give him a nod of agreement. Billy puts his hand up and counts down….3…2…1!

Billy makes a war cry while they go straight into the battlefield.


	28. The Rememberance

The whole afternoon was dark and rainy. The trees that were surrounding the makeshift gravesite were becoming large and ominous. Billy stood there in his regular clothes, a luxury he found greatly rewarding. It felt great to be back in his street clothes, but now was a time for mourning. He had lost so many friends in that war, and he knew they would never come back, although he wished they would.

Billy stood there, hands clasped in front of him, and he read off the names slowly inside his mind. The ones that felt the most familiar to him hurt the most, and each time he read them he felt like crying. Even though the ceremony was hours ago, he still didn't get to reading them all.

"Goodbye, everyone." Billy says, quietly. "I won't forget you all."

The rain began to hit harder, and Billy then lifts the hood of his jacket, which looked maroon since the rain was hitting hard, and begins to walk back to the car. Eddy was waiting out in front, sitting on the hood of the mini-van they had rented. The others, including Double D, Ed and Mandy, and the rest of the students who made it out alive were in the car park, waiting for him.

Without a warning, Eddy kicks mud off of his shoe and it lands straight on Billy's pants, which were as baggy as Eddy's, but they were khaki and they didn't sag.

"Damn it, Eddy, all over my new pants, not to mention that it got on my new shoes, too."

"Yeah, cry me a river, Billy-boy. Want one?" Eddy says, and he passes Billy a cigarette, to which Billy accepts.

"Thanks, bro. I need one after what we all went through." Billy says.

"Hey don't mention it. Now get your ass in the car, we're getting a plane to Ireland, and your petty ass is making us late."

Billy shakes his head, grinning a sly grin, and he jumps into the van. He sits next to Mandy in the back, who was resting her head on her hand, looking out the window.

"Hey, wake up." Billy says, and he shakes her shoulder.

Mandy looks back at him, all tired and heavy-eyed, and she smiles at him. She hugs him and gets situated next to him, snuggling up to him while he sits straight up. He puts an arm over her and they get ready for the next trip.

"You ready, back there?" Eddy says, taking the wheel.

"You bet your ass. Now get us out of here before I go six feet under."

"Whatever you say, soldier. Is everyone else in place?" Eddy says through a walkie-talkie.

"Yep, we're good." One van says.

"So are we, let's go." The other says.

Eddy puts his foot on the gas pedal and drives out of the parking lot, the others leading behind. The rumble of the engine and the road meeting rubber made Billy's eyes get heavy, and he falls asleep next to Mandy, while Ed looks on from beside him, shaking his head and looks out of the window.

As Billy drifts off to sleep, he begins to recite a poem to himself, a poem he wrote while getting to Iceland.

_We head once more into the Fray,_

_Every time we make sure we will come out alive._

_Must we live and die on this day,_

_Unless we have each other._

_Should we fall into the abyss?_

_Twas' an honorable fight we fought._

_Leverage must be made for the ones, who died,_

_In that promise made unknown to us then, but known now._

_Vain we must not make of it,_

_Every day we live to remember them._

The words echoed in Billy's mind as they sped off toward their destiny.

_**Author's note: **Well, this is it. This is the final chapter. Thanks for showing your support, even though you didn't leave reviews. There'll be some more fanfics but not like these for a long time. Thank you and see you, soldier. Oh, and one more thing, there's a hidden message in the poem. Hint hint;, read the first letters of each line._


End file.
